LONDON, United Kingdom — SAS has designed software to help businesses measure and manage their impact on the environment and plan for future sustainability programs.

The business intelligence company's SAS for Sustainability Management software allows businesses to look at their current environmental footprint as well as analyze effects from future projects.

SAS for Sustainability Management is also designed to identify strategies for environmental, social and economic situations and issues including greenhouse gas emissions, scarce resources, ethical sourcing and regulations.

Cisco has already adopted the sofaware platform to assist its sustainability initiatives. "By partnering with SAS and utilizing SAS for Sustainability Management, Cisco can better prioritize projects and resources that create a positive return for the environment, shareholders, and our employees," said Laura Ipsen, co-chair of Cisco's EcoBoard and senior vice president of Cisco Global Policy and Government Affairs. "The SAS solution will enable us to simulate the impact on carbon footprint, waste reduction targets, greenhouse gas emissions and other goals so we can more effectively predict and manage the impact of our operations on the environment."

The software uses the Global Reporting Initiative framework for reporting on evironmental, social and economic factors. Indicators for each of the three areas are analyzed, and SAS for Sustainability Management looks for valid strategies, identifies causal relationships between efforts and suggests ways to make improvements.