Source URL: https://blog.scottlogic.com/2025/05/20/tools-for-measuring-cloud-carbon-emissions-updated-for-2025.html
Source: Scott Logic
Title: Tools for measuring Cloud Carbon Emissions (updated for 2025)
Feedly Summary: In this post I’ll discuss ways of estimating the emissions caused by your Cloud workloads as a first step towards reaching your organisation’s Net Zero goals.
AI Summary and Description: Yes
**Summary:** The text provides a comprehensive overview of tools available for measuring and optimizing carbon emissions in cloud infrastructures, focusing on offerings from major Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) like Google Cloud, Azure, and AWS, as well as third-party solutions. It highlights the complexities of carbon emission reporting, the significance of using standardized methodologies like the GHG Protocol, and the varying capabilities and limitations of these tools. This information is particularly relevant for security and compliance professionals who are increasingly tasked with sustainability initiatives in cloud environments.
**Detailed Description:**
The article discusses the importance of optimizing cloud infrastructure and applications to reduce carbon emissions and emphasizes the necessity of measuring emissions to identify areas for improvement. Key points include:
– **Carbon Emission Measurement**: The text underscores the significance of accurate carbon emission measurement, primarily through the GHG Protocol, which categorizes emissions into three scopes:
– **Scope 1**: Direct emissions from owned or controlled sources.
– **Scope 2**: Indirect emissions particularly from electricity consumption.
– **Scope 3**: Other indirect emissions not owned or controlled, crucial for understanding the impact of cloud providers on a company’s carbon footprint.
– **Tool Evaluation**:
– The article evaluates tools provided by major CSPs that allow users to track and analyze emissions. These include:
– **Google Cloud Platform (GCP)**: Offers a Carbon Footprint tool that breaks down emissions by project, region, and product; includes both location-based and market-based approaches; updates monthly.
– **Microsoft Azure**: Provides several tools (Impact Emissions Dashboard, Emissions Insights, Carbon Optimization) with an emphasis on tracking emissions and optimizing for carbon efficiency, albeit with access limitations.
– **Amazon Web Services (AWS)**: Features the Customer Carbon Footprint tool, constrained by delayed data and limited scope coverage compared to GCP and Azure.
– **Third-party Solutions**: Tools like Cloud Carbon Footprint (CCF) allow for more comprehensive analysis across different CSPs, making it easier to standardize measurements. The article notes that while these tools may require more setup, they offer daily updates and transparent methodologies, enhancing ongoing monitoring of emissions.
– **Challenges and Recommendations**:
– The complexity of calculating emissions and the differences in CSP methodologies pose challenges for companies seeking to report on their carbon footprints accurately.
– A recommendation is made to regularly review and compare these tools, emphasizing that, for organizations using multiple CSPs, a unified tool like CCF may yield more comparable data.
– **Comparative Table**: A summarized comparison highlights the features of each tool, such as the scopes of emissions they cover, the methodologies used (location-based vs. market-based), the update frequency, granularity of data breakdowns, and limitations regarding access and reporting capabilities.
**Insight for Professionals**:
For security, privacy, and compliance professionals, integrating these carbon measurement tools into existing workflows not only addresses sustainability goals but also aligns with broader governance and regulatory pressures concerning environmental responsibility. Companies are urged to stay abreast of enhancements in these tools, as the landscape of cloud sustainability tools evolves rapidly.