SAS Propels Corporate Responsibility Through Innovative AI and Sustainability Initiatives
Maintaining its strong commitment to social responsibility and innovation, data and AI leader SAS continues to prioritize sustainability and corporate citizenship in shaping its business and climate strategy. SAS also aims to improve the world through trustworthy technology, offering innovative solutions to its customers.
As a longtime advocate of clean energy and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, SAS assists customers with their green business initiatives and sustainability needs and uses its own software to manage more efficient company operations across its global offices.
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“As a leader in social responsibility, we know that the power of trustworthy data can inspire more accurate decisions and create a more sustainable and responsible future,” said SAS CEO Jim Goodnight. “We seek opportunities to help our communities and customers with their efforts to implement environmental, social and governance initiatives.”
Consistent environmental leadership
As a supporter of the Paris Climate Accord, SAS’ green strategy has been demonstrated for decades through the company’s continually evolving environmental initiatives and sustainable business model. As a leader and advocate for corporate sustainability, SAS collaborates with employees, suppliers, and customers to minimize its environmental footprint through programs focused on energy conservation, emissions management, pollution mitigation, water conservation, green building, and other initiatives. SAS’ renowned AI expertise and powerful software solutions create smarter and more efficient operations for the company while also providing these insights and tools to its customers for their business strategies.
In 2023, SAS’ top environmental achievements included:
- Reducing absolute emissions across all scopes by 44% over the 2018 base year and 4.1% from the prior year.
- Earning SBTi validation for SAS’ 2030 52.6% and 2050 net-zero emission reduction targets.
- Increasing the 2030 reduction target from 50% to 52.6% as part of SBTi target revalidation.
- Reducing scope 2 emissions by 6.3% from the prior year.
- Diverting 69% of operational and 100% of construction waste from landfills globally.
- Increasing the amount of emissions data collected directly from suppliers by 43% (by spend).
- Generating 3.3 million kWh of clean, renewable energy from rooftop and ground-mounted solar systems.
- Initiating ISO 50001 Energy Management System certification for company headquarters.
- Earning limited assurance to the ISO 14064-3 standard for SAS’ 2023 calendar year scope 1 and scope 2 GHG emission inventories.
Dedication to improving society
SAS’ vision of creating a brighter future extends beyond just helping customers through innovative solutions – also tackling creatively addressing society’s biggest challenges. By continuing to ask bold questions, remaining resilient and prioritizing data-driven decisions, SAS creates innovative opportunities to spur positive change. Building upon its renowned supportive workplace culture and employee philosophy, SAS prioritizes how it can inspire progress and positively affect social issues and communities through many company efforts – from responsible innovation practices and projects to social innovation through corporate philanthropy and education initiatives.
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The SAS Data Ethics Practice (DEP) is a cross-functional team that leads a globally coordinated effort to help employees and customers deploy data-driven systems that promote human well-being, agency and equity. By supporting the Data for Good movement, SAS encourages using data in meaningful ways to solve humanitarian issues relating to poverty, health, human rights, education and the environment. The DEP continues to expand, increasing efforts to bring trustworthy AI to customers and pursuing new Data for Good initiatives.
Contributing to meaningful work is a key aspect of SAS’ award-winning workplace culture, which is dedicated to treating employees as valuable contributors while focusing on their well-being. This company philosophy has earned decades of recognition through numerous accolades and awards for SAS’ supportive and inclusive reputation.
SAS is dedicated to investing in the global community through its philanthropic philosophy, which emphasizes supporting data literacy and education initiatives for everyone. This commitment is evident in SAS’ efforts to develop and provide relevant resources for data literacy. In 2023, more than 290,000 educators and learners took advantage of free SAS software offerings. SAS also launched its second free data literacy e-learning course, Data Literacy in Practice. The first course, Data Literacy Essentials, has been activated more than 22,000 times in nearly 80 countries by more than 600 colleges and universities and 3,500 nonacademic organizations.
In addition, more than 20,000 students globally joined SAS Skill Builder for Students, a free online portal that provides access to everything students need to launch their analytics careers. Over 2,000 educators globally joined the SAS Educator Portal in 2023 and took advantage of free instructional materials and e-learning designed to make integrating analytics into the classroom easy and effective. For higher education and adult learners, SAS established more than 50 new partnerships with college and university programs around the world.
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