Partnership Expected to Help Companies Reduce their Carbon Footprint and Associated Costs through Greater Operational and Energy Efficiency

Addressing the increased pressure companies are facing to engage in sustainable business practices and to track their carbon reduction compliance now and into the future, Epicor® Software Corporation (NASDAQ: EPIC) and Village Green Global, Inc. today announced a strategic alliance to extend Epicor’s next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite with offerings that will provide companies the ability to identify, analyze, audit, track, manage, benchmark and report on carbon emissions, environmental impact and energy consumption.

Village Green specializes in enterprise carbon accounting, using an internationally recognized system for carbon analysis and trading. The company’s services help deliver scalable reporting for carbon accounting around electricity use, water consumption, transportation, natural gas, waste and other factors to find ways to save energy and money and enable organizations to implement and maintain sustainable business practices.

“We are pleased to partner with Epicor to help bring enterprise carbon accounting solutions to their customers. Together, our goal is to assist these companies become more energy efficient, reduce costs and address increasing environmental regulations such as Australia’s National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act, Europe’s Environmental Liability Directive (ELD) and Restriction, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) regulation, and eco-design directive for Energy-using Products (EuP Directive), and proposed regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to limit greenhouse gas emissions from industry,” said Doug Smith, founder and CEO of Village Green Global. “There is natural synergy between Epicor’s next-generation ERP and our enterprise carbon accounting, which will empower businesses with a comprehensive solution to develop green business practices.”

Governance, Risk and Compliance Strategies
Compliance is at the heart of the design of Epicor ERP, and as businesses embark on corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and begin to seriously consider energy availability and the long-term effects of climate change, they are turning their attention to an area of opportunity they can affect—reduction of carbon emissions and energy conservation in their operations and supply chains.

“Forward looking businesses are embracing implementation of effective governance, risk and compliance (GRC) strategies to help control risk, while providing efficiencies and ultimately driving business performance,” said Matt Muldoon, vice president, product marketing for Epicor. “Effective GRC management is a critical component in promoting sustainable business practices and vital to an organization’s ability to track carbon emissions, manage energy consumption, and ultimately maximize green waste savings. Our alliance with Village Green is an ideal complement to the central information hub that Epicor ERP provides and will help our customers’ CSR initiatives to succeed.”

Planning for a Sustainable Future
According to Gartner, Inc. “The next three years and beyond will be an important period for regulation, fiscal policy, formal standards, and corporate guidance related to the issues of sustainable development, climate change and energy efficiency, much of which will have direct or indirect impacts on the IT industry and the use of IT by end-user organizations.”[1]

"We applaud Epicor and Village Green Global for their joint commitment to address the growing need for innovative enterprise carbon accounting solutions among midmarket organizations,” said Matt Miszewski, General Manager, Worldwide Public Sector for Microsoft Corp. “This strategic alliance between two key Microsoft partners complements our initiative to help organizations—private and public sector, as well as government and non-profits—develop strong, sustainable IT strategies through innovative technology, setting a new standard for operational effectiveness and efficiency."

[1]Gartner, Inc., “Sustainability and Green IT: A National Policy Perspective” by Simon Mingay (June 1, 2009)

For more information contact Duncan Gurney, The PR Network
+44 (0)7912 495630, [email protected]