- SAP Managed Tags:
SAP Sustainability Labs Markdorf and Siegen (Environmental Management)
If you want to be a role model for sustainability and if you are granting thought leadership for this, it is necessary to document and to benchmark yourself. In 2010 we started in setting up a management system for sustainability. This includes the environmental management system based on the ISO14001 standard.
ISO 14001
Sustainability is more than just business for us. We have established various activities for work life balance, family integration and social engagement. C02 emission reduction by green IT initiatives and the usage of solar energy are also part of our sustainability program. Participation in benchmarking programs such as "great place to work", "energy challenge" and "best service award" helps us to gain valuable feedback on our efforts. We are also the frontrunner in setting up the Environmental Management System (EMS) based on ISO14001 for all SAP locations worldwide. This is a very good example for best practice exchange across the Labs.
If you want to manage something you need some reliable data or KPIs. So, for managing the environmental impact of the company you need a standardized and reliable management system. In 2012 we started with the implementation of the ISO14001 base Environmental Management System. This was done in collaboration with our Chief Sustainability Officer Daniel Schmid and his team. It was our ambition to generate a template for all SAP locations worldwide which can be rolled out later on. To be honest, this was not the easiest way to do it, but it was the most effective one. In 2013 we got the ISO14001 certificate and since this time the global sustainability team is rolling out this approach to many locations around the world.
Please visit the Sustainability Page in our portal for more details. This is a good example, how a small location with its dedication to sustainability can change the whole SAP organization.
We are also very proud that since the start of this project our glopal environmental policy was updated twice and now is really a concrete, challenging and feasible document, showing SAPs commitment to sustainability.
“Small locations can also have a big impact to the development of the whole company” 
Energy Challenge
As a very ambitious project we would like to share our “Energy Challenge” approach with you. The idea is very simple. We have many technical measures to reduce our energy consumption, but in some areas this leads also to a so called rebound effect. Changing normal light bulbs to LED lights is reducing the energy consumption tremendously. But knowing the effect the people do not switch off the lights and use more light than before. The effect can be dramatically. Our idea was to change the behavior of people in addition to technical measures. We decided to install about 100 smart meters to analyze the energy consumption in our offices and to make it transparent to all colleagues. In addition we gave many hints to reduce the consumption. This includes coffee corner sessions, posters, newsletters and a video campaign. At the end the results are speaking for themselves. 5% to 8% savings in energy could be granted. The graphic shows the typical energy consumption of the workplaces in Markdorf.
For more information please have a look at our video.
Here is the link to the Master Thesis document concerning the energy challenge. It is available in German only.
“Even the smallest step in the right direction is counting” 