A pivotal question about how finance can be used to address the challenges of our time has been discussed at COP30 in Belém, Brazil: how can sustained climate finance be implemented to drive meaningful environmental impact?
It’s a mindset shift SAP is already embracing to help our customers build genuine business resilience. It lies not just in reducing our own emissions, but in actively supporting and financing the restoration of the natural systems that underpin global economic stability.
The business case for nature-based initiatives
The interdependence between business and nature is no longer theoretical. Today, US$44 trillion of economic value generation depends directly on nature. From food systems that sustain people to water resources, natural capital forms the invisible infrastructure of the global economy. Yet this foundation is eroding rapidly, creating systemic risks that no company can ignore.
For SAP, investing in forest ecosystems is not just philanthropy, it’s risk management. By financing and supporting nature-based climate projects, we can protect ourselves and our stakeholders against the loss of natural capital while strengthening our position as a sustainability leader. These investments provide opportunities to regenerate the ecosystems that our economies and societies depend on for food, water, medicine, and sustainable growth.
A comprehensive approach to net-zero
In our mission to help the world run better and improve people’s lives, SAP has committed to achieving net-zero emissions along our entire value chain by 2030, aligned with the science-based 1.5°C future outlined in the Paris Agreement negotiated at COP21 in in 2015, 20 years ahead of our original target. This accelerated timeline reflects both urgency and ambition.
Until 2030, SAP is committed to financing projects that reduce and remove more CO2 from the atmosphere than our own operations—including scope 1 and 2 emissions plus business travel—produce each year. This commitment means we’re taking responsibility for the impact of our business operations while we scale up our decarbonization efforts.
This strategy follows a clear hierarchy: avoid and reduce emissions first, then neutralize what remains. We’re working to reduce gross greenhouse gas emissions by 90% across our value chain on a market-based accounting approach. The remaining emissions, no more than 10%, in line with Science Based Targets initiative standards, will be neutralized through high-quality, verified carbon removal projects spanning both nature-based and engineered solutions.
Matthias Medert, global head of Sustainability at SAP SE, says: “Our reduction efforts have earned SAP’s inclusion in the EU Paris-Aligned Benchmarks, giving investors confidence in our approach and demonstrating that rigorous action to tackle global issues strengthens rather than compromises business performance.”
Nature-based carbon finance in action
Since 2012, SAP has been building one of the most comprehensive corporate reforestation programs in the technology sector. To date, we have planted 20.51 million trees towards our commitment in 2024 to plant 25 million trees by 2030 while restoring more land than our offices and data centers occupy.
These aren’t isolated exercises. Through long-term investment in the Livelihoods Carbon Funds, SAP is supporting comprehensive 10- to 20-year projects that combine reforestation, forest protection, improved forest management, rural energy, and agroforestry initiatives implemented directly with local communities. These initiatives restore degraded natural ecosystems, improve the livelihoods of rural populations, and facilitate transitions to efficient rural energy and regenerative agriculture.
In addition to this, SAP is working with the Fundação Amazônia Sustentável (FAS) to help advance its mission to secure the Amazon rainforest’s future. By tracking 15 strategic KPIs—including deforestation rates and production chain revenue—and sharing data with stakeholders through the SAP Sustainability Control Tower solution, FAS is steering its efforts with accurate and reliable ESG data, positively impacting preservation efforts in the Amazon, home to not only the greatest fresh water reserve on the Earth, but around 390 billion trees and to 2.2 million indigenous people across 400 ethnic groups whose traditional knowledge is essential to the conservation of local and global biodiversity.
Partnerships amplifying impact
As a member of the 1t.org corporate alliance managed by the World Economic Forum, SAP is contributing to the collective goal of conserving and restoring multiple ecosystems around the world, supporting projects in over 25 countries, including Brazil, Madagascar, and the Philippines.
Technology can drive indirect reforestation as well. Through a partnership with ECOSIA, the not-for-profit search engine, every 50 searches made by SAP employees support the planting of new trees and investments in sustainable developments. This partnership has resulted in over 760,000 trees planted to date, while employees conduct their work and maintain their privacy through anonymized search queries.
Beyond nature-based solutions, we have partnered with Climeworks, investing in engineered carbon removal through its Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology. This diversified portfolio approach helps ensure that we’re supporting the full spectrum of solutions needed.
Connecting to COP30 and the Tropical Forest Forever Facility
SAP’s approach to climate finance aligns powerfully with emerging global frameworks, particularly the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) initiative, a top financing priority for Brazil’s COP30 presidency. The TFFF, formally launched last week at COP30 in Belém, is designed to provide long-term, predictable financing for conserving and expanding tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests.
This initiative reflects a critical evolution in climate finance thinking. Nearly 100 countries, representing two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions, have submitted or announced new Nationally Determined Contribution targets that include strategies to safeguard forests. SAP’s multi-year investments in the Livelihoods Carbon Funds demonstrate the kind of long-term, community-centered approach that the COP30 presidency seeks to scale globally. Our experience shows that when corporations commit to sustained financing with integrity and transparency, the impacts multiply: carbon is sequestered, biodiversity rebounds, communities build resilience, and businesses thrive.
Corporate action beyond the value chain
Provided it doesn’t undermine current corporate decarbonization programs, the financial muscle of corporations can bridge critical gaps in parts of the world where funds aren’t sufficiently available to restore ecosystems and build strong, durable economies and livelihoods.
Sustained corporate financial contributions provide quantifiable benefits to strengthen business resilience beyond SAP’s own value chain, delivering positive impacts for local and global populations and for biodiversity. Through collaboration, transparency, and technology, we’re proving that climate action isn’t just compatible with long-term business success, it’s essential to it.
The question for business leaders isn’t whether to invest in climate finance, but how quickly they can scale their commitments. The resilience of our businesses, our economies, and our planet depends on the actions we take today.
Learn more about SAP’s decarbonization strategy and how we support our customer’s journey to sustainable business here.
Karen Restrepo Ávila is Sustainability and Net-Zero communications lead at SAP.
