Mercedes-Benz has partnered with SAP to revolutionize its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data management. Leveraging SAP’s Sustainability Control Tower, the German automotive giant is streamlining its sustainability reporting processes, meeting stringent European Union regulations, and paving the way toward its carbon-neutral vision.

This collaboration comes in response to the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which mandates detailed ESG data collection and reporting from a broad range of companies. For Mercedes-Benz, compliance with CSRD required a scalable, cloud-based solution capable of real-time data collection, analysis, and standardized reporting.

“We had obviously been reporting on sustainability since 2006, but this new regulation brought things to a whole new level in terms of the sheer volume of data required,” explained the Project Manager for Sustainability Performance Management at Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Jochen Herold.

Centralizing Sustainability Data

With its Ambition 2039 strategy aiming for net carbon neutrality across the value chain by 2039, Mercedes-Benz has set measurable goals in six focus areas: Decarbonization, resource use and circularity, people, human rights, digital trust, and traffic safety.

The introduction of CSRD and European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) posed fresh challenges. Mercedes-Benz needed a system to automate reporting across more than 50 business stakeholders spanning functions, departments, and nearly 40 countries.

After evaluating multiple solutions, the company chose SAP Sustainability Control Tower integrated with SAP Datasphere, SAP Analytics Cloud, and a third-party disclosure management tool. This created a central hub for ESG data management, enabling seamless, audit-ready workflows.

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Driving Compliance and Beyond

The results are already tangible. SAP reports that approximately 95% of EU CSRD data points are now collected through audit-ready workflows, covering 70 compliance-based KPIs and 220 associated data points.

Beyond regulatory compliance, the platform empowers Mercedes-Benz to steer and monitor sustainability efforts, engage stakeholders effectively, and demonstrate the business value of its ESG strategy.

Business units have praised the system’s intuitive interface and features like change tracking, real-time validation, email alerts, and report previews. Moreover, SAP’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) model has reduced IT maintenance costs by eliminating the need for additional infrastructure.

Strategic Collaboration

SAP’s Business Transformation Services team played a crucial role in guiding Mercedes-Benz through implementation, providing strategic advice, resolving issues, and ensuring best-practice adoption.

“After months of working closely with one of our most strategic global customers, Mercedes-Benz AG, having them realize real value from SAP Sustainability Control Tower is truly inspiring,” wrote the Global Vice President, Strategic Customer Engagements at SAP Sustainability, Anita Varshney, on LinkedIn.

Mercedes-Benz successfully met its first CSRD reporting deadline thanks to automated workflows and a centralized, scalable data system. This achievement ensures compliance and reinforces the company’s commitment to a more sustainable future.

As global ESG standards evolve, Mercedes-Benz and SAP’s partnership showcases how robust data management systems can turn regulatory pressure into a catalyst for transformation.

Also Read: Understanding ESG Data and How to Use It

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Source: Sustainability Magazine