One key observation I made as a result of researching the various players in the market, is that most of the advisory firms who dominate this market, seem to think that the boundaries of carbon management begin - and end - with legal compliance and cost-saving initiatives. The traditional KPI for carbon management centres on energy cost-savings (mostly through efficiency drives levelled at factories, offices and warehouses). A few companies also employ measures across their distribution network in terms of saving money by “greening” a variety of fuel and transportation costs. But in taking a much closer look at the messages coming from The Carbon Show, it looks like the business drivers – and benefits – of carbon management are about to be transformed.
Accenture, in a joint effort with the Carbon Disclosure Project, gave a wonderfully educational presentation about embedding Carbon Management into the heart of a company’s business processes and strategies so it can be used as a strategic competitive advantage to help grow the organisation, improve business performance and increase return to shareholders and stakeholders alike. And it’s these types of business drivers that need a system like SAP.
In Accenture’s world, the application of carbon management reduction strategies is not just about saving energy and ensuring legislative compliance, it’s about changing the game. By changing the game we mean incorporating new measures and new KPI’s that extend across the business so as to drive forward new customer acquisition initiatives, raise the industry profile, enter new marketplaces and position as an innovative and forward-thinking brand leader.
So excited are we about this new area, that we’ve already taken a look at what we can do to help our customers change the game. The result is a new carbon management task force who are charged with helping transform and augment our customers’ existing business applications with a view to:
Gaining a competitive sales edge: the team are looking at ways that customers can leverage good carbon management disciplines to use as a sales advantage against competitors with little or no environmental track record.
Developing, enhance and extend an environmentally-friendly product portfolio: we are working on ideas that enable our customers to develop and manage new products, intellectual property and services that are tightly linked to sustainable and environmentally-friendly factors.
Increasing transparency and accountability: we are looking at capabilities that allow our customers to report, analyse and publicise real-time environmental performance indicators and offer forward-looking statements that track progress towards carbon neutrality.
Improving corporate reputation: we are identifying tools and methods that help our customers identify and communicate the positive impacts resulting from carbon reduction commitments.
Exploring new cost-saving areas: we are in the process of exploring novel areas in which to save energy and help reduce our customers’ carbon footprint.
Much of what we are working on goes beyond the realms of SAP’s new acquisition - Clear Standards (now called SAP Carbon Impact) and may require some re-engineering in the various SAP modules and applications. But, if we really want to change the game and move from a simple cost reduction exercise to a fully fledged strategic competitive advantage then now is the time to take the Carbon Management agenda to a whole new level.
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