Focus on Human Rights: SAP Again Named Most Sustainable Software Company

SAP has been appointed software sector lead for the 12th consecutive year in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices.

SAP again leads the software industry category of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI). Established in 1999 by investment management firm RobecoSAM, the Index is a leading benchmark for investors who factor sustainability issues into their portfolios, and SAP has been listed since the very beginning. This year, other software giants such as Oracle (#9) and salesforce.com (#6) have also been included in the DJSI.

SAP gained remarkable scores in all three sustainability dimensions: Economic, Environmental, and Social. The company achieved the most significant improvement in the social space. In particular, its strong focus on fulfilling human rights due diligence paid off: RobecoSAM rewarded SAP with +56 points, one of the highest scores industry-wide. For SAP, this originated in further aligning with the UN Guiding Principles, published by the UN to strengthen the responsibility of both states and companies for human rights. Along with having a strong policy commitment, SAP initiated processes to understand where the company's biggest human rights risks lie - e.g. in the supply chain - and what needs to be done to minimize negative impacts.

Following a thorough assessment on risks and opportunities for human rights, SAP introduced a new governance model in 2017, consisting of a steering committee and a project team. SAP's Global Human Rights Commitment Statement reflects the company's purpose to help the world run better and improve people's lives. To ensure transparency, SAP also communicates these efforts annually in its integrated report.

'The latest Dow Jones Sustainability Indices results show once again that SAP is well on track to lead the sustainability journey,' said Daniel Schmid, chief sustainability officer, SAP. 'I want to thank all employees who contribute to these results with their work on a daily basis and thus help the world run better and improve people's lives.'

With a total score of 70 percent, SAP achieved the best results of its industry in the environmental and social dimensions. In the economic dimension, SAP is among the top three companies.

• Economic: 63 percent (-1pp compared to 2017); industry average is 26 percent;
• Environmental: 86 percent (+2pp compared to 2017); industry average is 21 percent;
• Social: 73 percent (-3pp compared to 2017); industry average is 17 percent.

SAP has industry leading scores in seven of the 19 key dimensions of the ranking, some of them with scores close to 100 percent.

Among the best results are the 96 percent and 98 percent SAP received for the transparency it creates through its Environmental and Social Reporting, compared to 26 percent and 24 percent industry average. In this area, SAP stands out with its annual integrated report and its quarterly updates both being published externally as well as with its internal Sustainability Dashboard, breaking down social and environmental data to team levels.