A recent study by SAP reveals that organisations in Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) see a moderate to strong relationship between sustainability and their organisation’s competitiveness (71%) and profitability (68%).
As such, 51% intend to increase their investments in sustainability over the next three years, with half expecting a positive financial return within the next five years.
Extracting value from sustainability data will be key to enabling APJ businesses to prove return on investment. Less than a quarter (23%) are completely satisfied with the quality of the sustainability data they gather. This may be because there remains work to do to measure sustainability data directly, rather than rely on assumptions and estimates. APJ businesses trail the rest of the world when it comes to directly measuring energy consumption and emissions (79% in APJ vs. 83% globally), resource availability (76% vs. 79%), and materials use (71% vs. 76%).
“If our sustainability data is not complete then the decisions we make to improve the health of our planet and our businesses are cast into doubt. The key is to record and report accurate, granular, and auditable sustainability data and integrate it with financial data to make the right business decisions,” says Gina McNamara, regional chief financial officer of SAP Asia Pacific & Japan.
Fortunately, there are encouraging signs of progress. Over three quarters (76%) of APJ businesses report moderate or strong tracking of Scope 1 emissions, while that number is 70% for Scope 2 emissions, and 61% for Scope 3 emissions.
Similarly, APJ businesses are making sustainability demands across their ecosystem. To a moderate or strong degree, 72% say they require sustainability data from their suppliers and 69% demand environmental impact data from partners like logistics and fulfilment.
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"The benefits of integrating sustainability data and outcomes into the core business are clear. But there’s still so much more to do. Working with a technology partner like SAP will help more businesses measure actual sustainability data, act on it strategically, and drive competitiveness, profit, and revenue themselves,” says McNamara.
