SAP and Unilever Pilot Blockchain Technology to Support Deforestation-Free Palm Oil

Newsbyte

WALLDORF and LONDONSAP SE (NYSE: SAP) and Unilever (LON: ULVR) today announced a pilot of the GreenToken by SAP solution to further increase traceability and transparency in Unilever’s global palm oil supply chain.

Raw materials like palm oil are often mixed with physically identical raw materials from verified sustainable and nonverified sources after the “first mile” of the supply chain, causing the origin information to be either hidden or lost.

In a successful proof of concept in Indonesia, Unilever applied GreenToken to source more than 188,000 tons of oil palm fruit. The solution enabled Golden Agri-Resources and other suppliers from whom Unilever sources to create tokens that mirror the material flow of the palm oil throughout the supply chain and capture the unique attributes linked to the oil’s origin.

“With GreenToken, we want to bring the same traceability and supply chain transparency to bulk raw materials that you get from scanning a bar or QR code on any consumer product,” said Nitin Jain, co-founder and general manager of the GreenToken by SAP solution, SAP. “Our solution allows companies to tell what percentage of palm oil products they purchased from a sustainable origin and track it to the end consumer product.”

“Technology has played an important role in our efforts to enhance visibility and transparency in our own palm oil supply chains,” said Anita Neville, chief sustainability and communications officer, Golden Agri-Resources. “Our participation in the GreenToken by SAP solution pilot with SAP and Unilever provided useful insights in how to successfully pass information between different actors in the supply chain.”

The GreenToken solution helped Unilever track, verify and report in near real time the origins and journey that palm oil takes through its long and complex supply chain.

“Unilever is committed to achieving a deforestation-free supply chain by 2023, and blockchain technology has the potential to help companies, like ours, track their supply chains to ensure the commodities we source respect people and the planet,” said Dave Ingram, chief procurement officer, Unilever. “We are encouraged by the promising results of our pilot with GreenToken by SAP, the latest building block in our tech-enabled approach to ensure a more traceable and transparent supply chain.”

The work with GreenToken enhances Unilever’s ongoing and industry-leading efforts to gain full visibility of its supply chain.

Visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @SAPNews.

Media Contacts:
Benjamin Nickel, +49 170 4920616, benjamin.nickel@sap.com, CET
SAP Press Room; press@sap.com
Unilever Press Office, Press-Office.London@unilever.com

This document contains forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and outcomes to materially differ.  Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the risk factors section of SAP’s 2021 Annual Report on Form 20-F.© 2022 SAP SE. All rights reserved.
SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. Please see https://www.sap.com/copyright for additional trademark information and notices.