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One of the more interesting announcements to come out of the SAP Sapphire conference, was a deal to acquire a little-known company called Clear Standards.
Clear Standards, based in Sterling, Va., is a privately-held company that provides "enterprise carbon management solutions." What that means in a nutshell, is that Clear Standards provides companies with software to measure the amount of greenhouse gases and other environmental nasties they produce. In turn, companies can use the software to figure out how best to reduce their environmental impact.
There has been a lot of talk over the past year about how companies are taking environmental sustainability seriously. And, in fact, a number of large corporations have appointed Chief Sustainability Officers. It's easy to be cynical about whether they are serious or not, but the decision by SAP to purchase Clear Standards is a sign of hope.
SAP will be integrating the Clear Standards software into its own offerings, meaning that companies will be able to tap into financial and other data stored in their business warehouses to get a more accurate picture of their environmental impact. That will prove to be a much-appreciated tool for many companies as the first step in achieving sustainability is being able to accurately measure your impact.
Furthermore, companies are being judged more than ever on their environmental practices and this will help them in that cause.
"It is essential that organizations gain actionable insight into their carbon emissions, water consumption, energy use and other environmental factors so they can lower their environmental impact," SAP CEO Leo Apotheker said in making the announcement.
I had an opportunity to see a demonstration of the software, and it does have some attractive capabilities. It would let a U.S. company compare, for example, the environmental impacts of sourcing a product or part from China or from a closer location. Companies can then more accurately weigh the cost savings of sourcing a product from afar versus the environmental impacts and make better educated choices.
One further note on the topic - SAP released its own Sustainability Report at the conference, its first independently-assured report. The company received a B+ rating based on the Global Reporting Initiative rating system. The report was presented by Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer for SAP and executive vice president for sustainability solutions. In other words, Graf is responsible for SAP's sustainability efforts and will be spearheading the development of the Clear Standards offering.
The full report can be viewed here.
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