This year’s EU Green Week, held in Brussels under the theme “Clean, competitive, circular,” sent a clear message: Companies must adopt comprehensive, standardized, and automated carbon accounting practices—especially for Scope 3 emissions across the value chain.

Regulatory frameworks such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) are driving a fundamental shift. Companies are now expected to provide transparent, verifiable CO₂ data at the product and process level.

What this means for businesses

  • Full emissions visibility – including Scope 3
    Scope 3 emissions—those from upstream and downstream activities—often represent the majority of a company’s carbon footprint. Accurately capturing these emissions requires deep supply chain transparency and high data quality.
     
  • Integration into business decisions
    Carbon data is no longer just a sustainability KPI—it’s becoming a critical input for procurement, product design, and investment decisions.
     
  • Enabling market access and funding
    Transparent carbon accounting is increasingly essential to remain eligible for public funding, meet customer expectations, and comply with CO₂-based trade mechanisms like CBAM.

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How SAP sustainability tools support this transition

  • SAP Sustainability Footprint Management (SFM)
    Calculates product carbon footprints (PCFs) using actual transactional ERP data—aligned with global standards and fully auditable.
     
  • SAP Sustainability Data Exchange (SDX)
    Facilitates secure, standardized CO₂ data sharing across value chain partners to improve Scope 3 transparency and collaboration.
     
  • SAP Sustainability Control Tower (SCT)
    Provides real-time visibility across all ESG indicators, enabling sustainability performance monitoring, steering, and reporting.
     
  • SAP Green Ledger
    Logs CO₂ data in parallel with financial transactions within the ERP system—enabling precision carbon accounting on par with financial bookkeeping.

Together, these tools empower businesses to integrate sustainability into business processes, ensuring data consistency, compliance, and strategic agility.

Key takeaway:

EU Green Week 2025 made it clear: Carbon accounting is no longer optional—it’s a business imperative. Organizations that invest now in integrated solutions like SAP SFM, SDX, SCT, and Green Ledger will gain a competitive edge through compliance, transparency, and actionable insights across their entire value chain.

Ready to simplify and scale your carbon management? Let’s talk.

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