Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google and Microsoft claim their ability to accurately assess the Scope 3 emissions generated by their activities is being hampered by lacklustre embodied emissions data provided by the third parties that build and kit out their datacentres.
The three hyperscale public cloud firms, along with Meta, Digital Realty and Schneider Electric, have put their names to an open letter penned by the members of the iMason Climate Accord, which is a coalition of tech firms focused on making digital infrastructure more environmentally friendly.
To this point, the letter states that the “digital infrastructure industry is increasingly recognising its responsibility to mitigate climate change by lowering its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions”.
Datacentre operators can do this by ramping up the amount of renewable energy their sites consume, and by reducing the embodied GHG emissions that are generated during the construction phase of their server farms.
“This letter focuses on accelerating reductions in embodied emissions,” it stated.
This can be a difficult process for datacentre operators because they are reliant on third parties to supply them with accurate lifecycle Scope 3 emissions data about the materials used to build and kit out their datacentres, which usually takes the form of an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) document.
“One can view the EPD as a ‘nutrition’ label of a material,” the letter stated. “EPDs are then used to estimate the embodied carbon footprint of a project, in this case a datacentre, based on the actual volume of material or counts of products purchased.”
According to the letter and signatories, too few third-party manufacturers are producing EPDs, making it difficult for operators to get an accurate read on the embodied emissions generated by their datacentre building activities.
As a result, AWS, Google and Microsoft and the other signatories are now calling on these third-party suppliers to “publish more EPDs for materials and equipment used to construct and operate” datacentres, because they need this embodied emissions data to “meet regulators’ and customer needs”.
The letter concluded: “By taking these actions, our supply chain vendors will improve the transparency of digital infrastructure embodied emissions, support our GHG estimation and reporting, and help ensure we are positioned to meet our climate goals via more informed green procurement as we develop the digital infrastructure of the future.”
Details of the letter emerged within weeks of AWS, Google and Microsoft all publishing their annual environmental reports, which provided an update on how their respective efforts to reduce their GHG emissions are progressing.
As reported by Computer Weekly, Microsoft – which is working towards becoming a carbon-negative entity by 2030 – revealed that its Scope 3 emissions had increased by 30.9% compared to its 2020 baseline.
“The rise in our Scope 3 emissions primarily comes from the construction of more datacentres and associated embodied carbon in building materials, as well as hardware components such as semiconductors, servers and racks,” the Microsoft report stated.
Google, meanwhile, is working towards becoming a carbon-neutral entity by 2030 and reported an 8% year-on-year rise in Scope 3 emissions in its 2023 report, which it also attributed to its datacentre expansion activities.
The Amazon 2023 environmental report, however, stated that the company as a whole achieved a 5% decrease in its Scope 3 emissions compared to 2022, which it said was down – in part – due to advocating for the use of lower-emission concrete, steel and mass timber in the construction of its buildings.
It also attributed its Scope 3 emissions decrease to the fact it has taken steps to reduce its reliance on third-party transportation providers in favour of using Amazon’s own logistics teams to deliver its products to customers.
It is, incidentally, worth noting that Amazon does not separate out the contribution that AWS makes to its overall environmental footprint, so it remains unclear from the report what the Scope 3 emissions linked to its datacentres and public cloud operations are.
The company, which is targeting becoming a carbon-neutral organisation by 2040, did divulge that its Scope 3 emissions make up 75% of its overall GHG emissions footprint.
Amazon’s decision to sign the letter could be linked to the pressure it has found itself under pressure from government enterprise users of its AWS cloud technologies for some time to make Scope 3 emissions data freely available through its Customer Carbon Footprint Tool.
Microsoft and Google have both allowed users of its respective cloud platforms to keep tabs on their Scope 3 emissions through similar tooling since 2021.
As previously reported by Computer Weekly in February 2023, the delay in providing freely available Scope 3 data to its customers has been previously linked to the departures of several high-profile members of the sustainability focused senior leadership at AWS.
This is a claim AWS has previously denied, telling Computer Weekly at the time: “Any suggestion that a few departures from the company impact our commitment to sustainability is false.”
However, since telling Computer Weekly in May 2023 that it will make it possible for AWS users to track their Scope 3 emissions through the Customer Carbon Footprint Tool from “early 2024”, this capability remains lacking.
It is understood the company is in the throes of carrying out the life-cycle assessments required to generate the Scope 3 emissions data that could be incorporated into the Customer Carbon Footprint Tool.
However, at the time of writing, there is no indication as to when that work will result in updates being made to the Customer Carbon Footprint Tool that will allow AWS users to track the Scope 3 emissions of their cloud usage.
Computer Weekly asked AWS for an update on when users will be able to track their Scope 3 emissions through Customer Carbon Footprint Tool, but the company did not directly answer the question.
What the company did say, in a statement shared as part of the announcement about the open letter’s publication, is that it is committed to working with partners across the cloud industry to support the fight against climate change.
“At AWS we are committed to reaching net-zero carbon emissions across our operations by 2040 by investing in carbon-free energy, scaling solutions and collaborating with partners to broaden our impact,” said Eric Wilcox, vice president of datacentre engineering at AWS.
“We support the iMasons call for suppliers to adopt the use of Environmental Product Declarations… [and] doing so will provide greater transparency in Scope 3 emissions embodied in equipment and help accelerate the overall industry’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.”