SAP: Boosting Industrial Sustainability Data Automation

Brazilian road equipment manufacturer Facchini S/A (Facchini) is adopting SAP Sustainability Control Tower to replace lengthy manual ESG reporting with automated, real-time data consolidation. 

Although driven by manufacturing demands, the project highlights how data-intensive industries manage dispersed operational footprints and centralise environmental data in ways that mirror modern data centre practices.

Facchini operates 10 factories across Brazil and captures environmental and social information from thousands of data points. This resembles the challenge faced by data centre operators managing multiple sites, where distributed systems, siloed tools and manual reporting can slow sustainability planning. 

Facchini’s shift to an integrated digital platform therefore offers a useful comparison for operators looking to modernise ESG data flows across cloud, colocation and on-premises facilities.

Claudemir Brito, Sustainability and ESG Manager at Facchini, describes the core challenge: “Our biggest challenge has always been the consolidation of social and environmental data, which required a lot of time and manual effort.” 

“With SAP Sustainability Control Tower, we will have all metrics integrated, from carbon emissions and material circularity to social indicators of diversity and inclusion.”

Moving from annual summaries to real-time operational data

For Facchini, sustainability information previously took three to four months to gather, with teams assembling annual reports through spreadsheets and manual inputs. Many data centre operators face similar friction when consolidating energy, cooling and water information across multiple facilities, especially when operating a mix of legacy and cloud-native tools.

SAP Sustainability Control Tower integrates directly with the company’s existing SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition system, enabling live dashboards and automated data capture. Claudemir says the company expects to move from static reports to continuous insights, “turning them into a foundation for strategic management decisions”.

For the data centre sector, the model reflects a broader shift towards embedding sustainability insights within operational platforms, removing manual bottlenecks and improving the accuracy of environmental reporting for investors, regulators and customers.

Meeting rising reporting demands across complex estates

Facchini’s ESG modernisation is partly driven by customer due diligence processes. Many European and Latin American clients now require extensive disclosure before contracting, with questionnaires that can reach 600 items. Facchini currently spends weeks assembling responses. The company expects automation to cut this to days.

These pressures closely reflect what data centre operators experience as cloud customers and hyperscalers impose stricter sustainability requirements. Granular site-level performance metrics, supply chain transparency and renewable energy accounting are becoming mandatory components of RFPs and auditing cycles.

Pedro Pereira, SAP’s Sustainability Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, says: “The unique value of the Sustainability Control Tower is to transform reports from annual documents to daily management tools.” 

"By integrating indicators directly into SAP's ERP, supported by artificial intelligence and automation tools, the company will have a predictive and strategic vision to accelerate its sustainable growth."

A data-driven model aligned with global policy context

The timing of Facchini’s announcement coincides with COP30 in Belém, where Brazil’s environmental strategy is under international scrutiny. 

Policymakers at the event have emphasised the need for stronger data frameworks to support green finance, capacity building and transparent climate commitments.

“Using the cloud-based SAP Sustainability Control Tower, Facchini S/A made data central to decision-making: aligning metrics, automating data management, and laying the foundation for a new wave of innovation powered by agentic AI,” explains Jan Gilg, SAP Americas’ CRO and President.

This reflects a trend seen in advanced data centre operators: ESG data is no longer an isolated reporting stream. Instead, it is expected to feed directly into capacity planning, facility management, risk assessment and long-term sustainability roadmaps.

Implications for data centre sustainability strategies

Facchini’s approach demonstrates how large operational estates can consolidate complex sustainability data using a unified digital architecture. This holds lessons for data centre leaders who often manage multiple sites with varying configurations, energy sources and compliance obligations.

Key parallels include:

• Integration of sustainability metrics into core operational systems rather than standalone tools
• Use of automation to replace manual data gathering
• Real-time dashboards for carbon, water and energy performance
• Rapid response capability to meet customer and regulatory demands
• Application of AI and predictive analytics for planning and risk modelling

The move also supports specific environmental targets, such as Facchini’s aim to achieve 100% renewable energy usage by 2026 and continued improvements in material circularity, where the company already reuses more than 95% of steel scrap generated in manufacturing.

A blueprint for digitally mature reporting

As sustainability expectations continue to rise across global supply chains, the ability to produce accurate, live and auditable environmental data is becoming a competitive differentiator. 

Facchini’s adoption of SAP Sustainability Control Tower aligns with this direction of travel and demonstrates how digitised ESG systems can reduce operational overhead and create a foundation for data-driven decision-making.

For data centre operators, the story reinforces an emerging industry expectation: sustainability reporting must evolve from annual manual processes to continuous, intelligent data flows integrated directly into facility management platforms.