SAP, the German multinational software corporation joins Livelihoods fund

     Livelihoods keeps growing

       Livelihoods, SAPSAP the market leader in enterprise application software has decided to join the Livelihoods Fund with an investment of Euro 3 million. SAP investment in Livelihoods confirms the momentum that started one year ago when the Fund was initiated by Danone. Since December 2011, other large corporations from different industry sectors have joined Livelihoods: Schneider Electric, Credit Agricole, Hermès International, Voyageurs du Monde, La Poste Group, CDC Climat. The Fund size is now close to Euros 30 million.

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Press Release- Paris, January 24, 2012 – SAP, the German multinational software corporation joins Livelihoods fund

SAP, the market leader in enterprise application software, has decided to join the Livelihoods Fund with an investment of Euro 3 million. SAP investment in Livelihoods confirms the momentum that started one year ago when the Fund was initiated by Danone. Since December 2011, other large corporations from different industry sectors have joined Livelihoods: Schneider Electric, Credit Agricole, Hermès International, Voyageurs du Monde, La Poste Group, CDC Climat. The Fund size is now close to Euros 30 million.

SAP is a recognized leader in sustainability and carbon emissions reduction and has built its carbon reduction strategy on three pillars:

– the acceleration of the profitable reduction of energy consumption,

– the enhancing of green electricity

– and by offsetting part of its emissions in an innovative way.

 

“SAP is executing across all three pillars to achieve our reduction target,” said Peter Rasper, executive vice president of Global Finance Infrastructure, SAP, and SAP representative on the board of directors of Livelihoods Fund. “Through our partnership with the Livelihoods Fund, SAP will not only purchase carbon credits and offset emissions, but we will produce carbon credits. This provides an innovative, affordable and partnership-oriented way to reduce our emissions that will once again underline our leadership in the sustainability space.”

Livelihoods is a unique investment fund whose objective is to give intensive societal carbon credits back to investors and partners. The fund seeks to strike the best balance between the financial value of these credits and the value created for rural communities. It invests in projects of eco-system restoration, agriculture, agro-forestry, rural energy having a significant impact on resources and food security of rural communities. 

Livelihoods has so far invested in six large scale projects in Africa and Asia. A prominent example is the restoration of 10,000 hectares of mangroves in Senegal by 450 villages reconstituting their food ecosystem (fish breeding and crop protection). Another example is the plantation of 6,000 hectares of agroforestry with 20,000 small farmers in India which will provide a mix of fruits, timber and cash crops under shade. While improving the livelihoods of poor people, those two projects will also sequestrate 1,5 million TCO2 over 20 years.

“SAP decision to invest in Livelihoods is a confirmation of the company leadership on sustainability” said Bernard Giraud, co-founder of Livelihoods Fund and President of Livelihoods Venture, the Fund Advisor “we welcome SAP engagement on reducing its carbon footprint while contributing to create social and environmental value through an innovative business model. And we expect that they will also bring a lot to Livelihoods, along with the other partner-companies”

More than a financial fund, Livelihoods is a platform that allows common investment business partners to pool their resources and skills together, along with NGOs to co-develop impactful solutions.

About SAP

As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 197,000 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

SAP Press Release


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Media contacts:

Nadine Kouamouo, +33 (0) 144 35 33 26 nkouamouo@livelihoods.eu