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March 3, 2009 - Business software provider SAP has installed its first chief sustainability officer, who will double as the company's executive vice president of sustainability solutions.

Peter Graf will head up SAP's new companywide sustainability effort, reporting directly to executive board member Jim Hagemann Snabe.

The announcement comes in conjunction with a new corporate carbon-reduction commitment. SAP has pledged that, by 2020, it will shrink its total carbon footprint (both direct and indirect emissions) to year-2000 levels. The company, which conducted its first global greenhouse gas inventory in 2008, says it will report performance and progress toward the target in its annual sustainability report.

In addition, SAP has bolstered its partnership with TechniData AG to deliver expanded solutions for environment, health and safety (EHS) management. Under terms of the agreement, SAP will now own and sell the companies' co-created EHS applications under a single name, SAP Environment, Health, and Safety Management.

"SAP is in a unique, dual position when it comes to sustainability," according to SAP co-CEO Leo Apotheker. "We have a moral obligation to start with ourselves and ensure that our business operates in a transparent and accountable manner, leaves a minimal environmental footprint, and reaches out to improve the social situation of others. As the leader in business software, we also deliver solutions that help other businesses achieve clarity across their operations and better manage their sustainability performance. This is why we are making a strategic, long-term commitment to operate our company in a sustainable way and to help businesses address social, environmental and governance challenges on a global scale."