SAP plans to beef up its business sustainability portfolio with the acquisition of Clear Standards Inc., makers of software that measures a business’ carbon output and provides a roadmap for cutting energy costs and emissions. SAP envisions that Clear Standards will “complement” other offerings in its vast product portfolio, specifically SAP Business Suite and SAP Environment, Health, and Safety Management.

And it’s not hard to see why SAP would make a play for the firm. Here’s a summary of what their three products do:

Clear Standards Assess provides the foundation for organizing and consolidating all emissions data across the enterprise, allowing businesses to determine and report their total environmental impact, including GHG emissions, water consumption and waste. Clear Standards Analyze provides detailed visualizations of emissions data, enabling insight-driven decisions on environmental initiatives. Finally, Clear Standards Act supports operational plans to meet sustainability goals and conform to voluntary goals and regulatory standards. By using embedded best practices in the solutions, businesses can plan for dramatic cost savings from energy and waste reduction, access decision-support metrics for optimizing investments in energy efficiency technologies, and seek to enhance brand value by providing credible transparency into sustainability initiatives.

…all wrapped up in a visualization-heavy, web-based console.

Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, it certainly says a lot of Clear Standards, which was only founded in 2007. The acquisition is expected to be completed in June 2009.

Source: Press Release