Watching your Footprint Date:   Sunday , July 01, 2012 SAP Labs India is SAP’s second largest Research & Development and global Services and Support center in the world. It was founded in 1998; SAP Labs India is one of the four global development centers of SAP that contribute to all areas of the SAP product value chain. The world is becoming increasingly carbon conscious as rapid developments are being made. Corporate spheres, these days, are implementing initiatives that are more sustainable, and work towards drastically reducing the organization’s carbon footprint. Companies are being increasingly aware of their carbon footprint and are identifying all possible areas to snip their emissions and move into a greener mode. There is significant difference between sustainability and carbon footprint. While sustainability is the initiative to turn the business model into a more environment friendly and ecologically driven model, carbon footprint is the total set of green house gas emissions by a particular organization. While both the terms tie into one and other, there is a widespread movement among companies to turn "sustainable" and reduce their "carbon foot print". Shockingly, 2010 saw that India was the country with the third highest carbon emission following China and the United States of America. A recent study has also revealed that by 2030, India will have a population of 1.5 billion thus increasing the need to adapt to resources that are renewable and sustainable. It is also estimated that the carbon emission in India can significantly rise to 5 billion tonnes by the year 2030. This revelation clubbed with the intervention of the Kyoto Protocol by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to fight global warming has urged organizations to take steps to go green. From the simple diffuse of the light bulb and replacing it with energy saving bulbs to carpooling initiatives by employees, companies have made several drastic efforts to ensure that their carbon footprint is minimized. Travel costs have been reduced and companies are now encouraging video conferencing and TelePresence to bridge the geographical divide and run their businesses efficiently. Studies have shown that implementing four TelePresence rooms in an organization can effectively reduce CO2 emissions by 2, 721 metric tons over a period of five years. The onetime cost incurred at replacing switches with motion sensors, hand towels with hand dryers and plastic cups in the cafeteria with ceramic mugs goes a long way towards reducing carbon footprint in an organization of thousands. Many businesses also gauge their partners and vendors on the efforts made by them to reduce their carbon footprint. Partners and vendors directly tie in to the associated allies of the company and organizations are against collaborating with other companies whose initiatives do not adhere with the emission policies. This in turn encourages companies to turn their business model into a green and sustainable one. One of the key adoptions made by several organizations is the adoption of products and solutions that help gauge their overall carbon emission. Several partners have adopted solutions like the SAP Carbon Impact Solution that helps accurately measure, mitigate, and monetize carbon emissions and other environmental impacts across the organizations internal operations and supply chain. Such on-demand solution can help global organizations credibly report and profitably reduce the enterprise carbon footprint. Sustainability encourages organizations to take rapid measures to go green and while these initiatives go a long way in affecting the planet, businesses go a long way in making a difference to the environment. Together, these small steps promote the sustainability drive of an organization a long way giving the world a promising future.