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Danone uses custom SAP system to track carbon footprint

French food giant aims to reduce emissions throughout product life cycle

French food group Danone has implemented a customised SAP solution that enables it to calculate and track the carbon footprint of its 35,000 products throughout their lifecycle.

The system has been introduced as part of the company's commitment to reduce emissions by 30 per cent from 2008 to 2012. Reducing emissions has become one of the metrics by which Danone assesses its executives' eligibility for bonuses.

Danone's announcement comes amid growing interest in carbon management software for financial as well as purely green motivations.

Sustainability consultancy Verdantix identifies cost savings as the number one purchase driver.

In the Green Quadrant Energy Management Software report published in December last year, 13 of 15 organisations interviewed indicated that the ability to identify cost savings topped the list of reasons to purchase energy management software.

"We see firms motivated by the desire to achieve operational transformation, improve operational efficiency, reduce risk, reduce energy cost, increase brand value, and as competitive differentiation," Janet Lin, senior analyst at sustainability research firm Verdantix, told Computing.

The system created by Danone and SAP is integrated with Danone's SAP infrastructure: 80 per cent of the detailed data pertaining to product life cycle is automatically collected.

"Existing solutions do not allow carbon footprint measurements to be integrated within IT operations systems across the whole product life cycle, for each and every product," said Jean-Marc Lagoutte, CIO at Danone.

"Danone has designed a unique carbon footprint measurement model and deployed a dedicated SAP platform globally."

The goal is to provide operations managers with actionable information so they take the more environmentally sustainable action, whether it relates to product development, ingredient selection, sourcing and transportation options or even investments.

"This solution makes carbon footprint issues everyone's business," said Myriam Cohen-Welgryn, vice president of Danone Nature.

"Analysing product life cycles is a good way to rally all of our employees to our carbon footprint reduction target.

"By making this analysis part of our IT infrastructure, we gain valuable insights for decision-making; it becomes a catalyst for change in the company as a whole. Just as in the past, we made success in achieving carbon reduction targets an integral part of the system used to calculate executive bonuses."

The system was first used by two Danone companies in Spain. It was then successfully tested by two other dairy businesses in Belgium and by Stonyfield Farms in the US.

By the end of the year, the new solution will be present in 40 of Danone's business units, covering around 70 per cent of its revenues and over 35,000 products.

Danone aims to deploy the solution for all its businesses globally, encompassing its four areas of business: fresh dairy products, bottled water, baby nutrition and medical nutrition.

Danone uses custom SAP system to track carbon footprint

French food giant aims to reduce emissions throughout product life cycle

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