Global IT Consulting Firms, MSPs Support SAP Carbon Accounting Software Platform Launch

Multiple global IT consulting companies and MSPs (managed IT service providers) have vowed to support SAP Green Ledger, a newly launched cloud-based carbon accounting software system.

Key launch partners -- including Accenture, Deloitte, EY, PwC, TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) -- helped to develop the software. Also, pilot customers include Covestro, which specializes in polymer materials and circular economies.

The SAP Green Ledger launch arrives at a key time. Many customers, particularly those in Europe, are seeking carbon accounting software to help navigate emerging CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) regulatory requirements.

Amid that market opportunity, dozens of venture-backed startups and enterprise software companies offer carbon accounting products. But SAP believes it can differentiate by integrating Green Ledger with the company's existing ERP (enterprise resource planning) solutions. Customers, in turn, can integrate their business and financial data with carbon data.

SAP Green Ledger: Carbon Accounting Software Business Benefits

SAP says Green Ledger provides at least six business benefits to customers:

1. Track and account for carbon footprints in relation to their financial impact;
2. Lower emissions alongside financial optimization and thus facilitate carbon budgeting;
3. Establish carbon planning for carbon neutrality and net zero targets;
4. Benchmark departments, business units and profit centers from both a financial and environmental perspective;
5. Prepare for sustainability audits; and
6. Improve supplier-based processes to decrease carbon emissions in the supply chain (2025).

SAP did not say if Green Ledger will run with third-party platforms such as Oracle ERP, Microsoft Dynamics ERP, and others.

Partners Support Multiple Carbon Accounting Software Platforms

Early SAP Green Ledger partners certainly are committed to the software, but they also tend to support multiple third-party carbon accounting platforms. Examples include:

• Accenture and Microsoft together developed a cloud-based application for energy companies that are seeking to manage methane gas emissions.
• Microsoft invested in Touchcast, an Accenture partner and cloud caching company that improves AI's energy efficiency, Bloomberg reported.
• Accenture and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are helping customers to gather and manage their ESG data. The partnership involves AWS Sustainability Data Fabric (SDF), a framework that "enables faster and more accurate sustainability insights," the two companies assert.
• Deloitte and Google Cloud are partnering to offer generative AI and geospatial data applications designed to help customers address sustainability, climate risks and net-zero carbon emission strategies, the two companies said.
• EY expanded its technology and sustainability partnerships with both Microsoft and SAP in October 2023.
• PwC Taiwan is supporting a Microsoft Taiwan icarbon management platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Radio Taiwan International reported. The platform, called iCX (Intelligent Carbon Exchange), is designed to help SMEs reduce their carbon emissions and comply with international standards.
• Tata Consultancy Services and Microsoft partnered on Scope 3 customer research.

SAP Carbon Accounting Software: Executive and Partner Perspectives

Meanwhile, SAP and multiple partners described how the new Green Ledger software can help customers with their carbon accounting and sustainability strategies.

In a prepared statement about the software launch, SAP CFO Dominik Asam said: “Enormous investments are required to abate CO₂ in order to curb global warming. Besides smart, reliable regulation also accurate data on emissions along the supply chain is paramount to trigger the necessary investment. Only by moving from averages to actuals – audited at reasonable assurance – can freeriding and greenwashing be avoided, thereby protecting such valuable investment and our planet. SAP Green Ledger delivers precisely that.”

Added Stephanie Jamison, global resources industry practice chair and global sustainability services lead at Accenture: “As organizations seek to gain visibility into both the financial and environmental performance of their businesses, SAP Green Ledger can provide the sustainability metrics and insights needed to enhance decision-making that reduces emissions, drives efficiencies and optimizes performance. As a strategic co-innovation partner, Accenture helped shape the development of SAP Green Ledger and can apply our understanding of the technology and its capabilities to help our clients get the most for their organization.”

Noted Jennifer Steinmann, Deloitte global sustainability business leader: “SAP Green Ledger offers new levels of precision in carbon accounting for organizations as they track, manage and report their greenhouse gas emissions, and provides leaders with a holistic view of the costs and benefits of sustainability initiatives, enabling them to make data-driven decisions that can build business resilience."

Said Veronica Poole, Deloitte global IFRS and corporate reporting leader: “Technology solutions can help generate traceable, bottom-up emissions data. Leveraging the robust governance and controls of enterprise systems is needed to help organizations achieve the rigor that enhances corporate accountability and enables a move to reasonable assurance.”

Concluded TCS Enterprise Solutions Global Head Vikram Karakoti: “With our participation in the pilot program for SAP Green Ledger, TCS is embracing innovative sustainability solutions to build a better future. This will enable organizations to move beyond regulatory compliance and make sustainability a growth engine. By embedding carbon data into the enterprise planning process, organizations can unlock previously unexplored areas for growth, transformation and environmental renewal.”

SAP did not disclosed pricing for Green Ledger. Also, new Chief Sustainability Officer Matthias Medert was not quoted in the launch announcement.

Disclosure: Channel Angels, a sister company to Sustainable Tech Partner, is an early stage investor in Unravel Carbon, a carbon accounting software startup.