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Carbon Footprint Report and Cloud Foundation
About Carbon Footprint Reporting
As a global standard for carbon footprint accounting, the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) protocol uses the concept of “scope” to define direct and indirect emission sources of greenhouse gases using three categories. This concept helps organizations report their carbon footprint with greater transparency.
- Scope 1 includes all direct emissions occurring from sources that are explicitly owned or controlled by the company. For example, emissions from boilers, furnaces, vehicles, etc.
- Scope 2 accounts for indirect emissions resulting from electricity purchased or consumed by the company. Actual emission occurs at the production site, for example, coal-fired power stations.
- Scope 3 covers all other indirect emissions following the company’s activities but occurring from sources not owned or controlled by the company. These emissions are associated with the organizational supply chain or value chain, contributing to the biggest share of the company’s carbon footprint. For example, emissions produced by the computing infrastructure of the company’s cloud service provider.
Why does it matter when building a Cloud Foundation?
A Cloud Foundation is an organization’s strategic approach to mastering its cloud transformation.
Carbon footprint reporting offers a tremendous opportunity for companies on their cloud transformation journey. They can easily collect data regarding different categories of emissions, especially Scope 3 emissions through their public cloud service provider. This data can prove to be vital in identifying the wastage of resources and inefficient processes within the company. Hence, it can directly lead to cost and risk reduction.
A recent report suggests that companies that show interest in “green” initiatives and credentials have a greater probability of attracting young and talented employees and retaining them longer. This reduces recruitment expenditure and supports sustainable growth for the company. In addition, consumers are moving toward environmentally conscious decisions while selecting their products and services. Therefore, businesses can improve their brand awareness or value by choosing to disclose their carbon footprint reports. Ultimately, carbon footprint reporting is an integral element of organizational strategy and companies should integrate it into their Cloud Foundation.
How do cloud providers implement it?
According to GHG protocol standards, the carbon footprint reporting method uses a location-based footprint calculation involving gross carbon emissions from all electricity generating sources in use at a given location. Alternately, calculating emissions using a market-based footprint method is a more effective option to attribute emissions from carbon-free electricity sources.
At Google Cloud, the market-based emission reports of the current year represent the share of carbon-free electricity purchased during the past year. Consequently, the location-based reports are identical to the market-based reports in regions consuming electricity only from non-green sources.
Finally, companies can choose their public cloud service providers and products based on the emission reports.