Data Center Industry Calls for Environmental ‘Nutrition Labels’ to Cut Carbon Emissions

In an effort to further reduce the data center industry’s carbon footprint, the iMasons Climate Accord has released an open letter calling for greater transparency in Scope 3 emissions across the supply chain.

Composed of representatives from AWS, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Digital Reality, and Schneider Electric, the iMasons Climate Accord is working towards industry-wide adoption of an open standard to report carbon in data center power, materials, and equipment.

On Tuesday (July 16), the coalition’s governing body published an open letter calling on all data center suppliers to support greater transparency in Scope 3 emissions via the adoption of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) as part of broader efforts to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint.

EPDs are standardized, third-party verified documents that report the embodied emissions of data center products and equipment. “One can view the EPD as a ‘nutrition’ label of a material,” the open letter states.

What’s In Scope?

There are three different kinds of emissions that organizations must consider to track the full scope of their carbon footprint.

Scope 1 emissions, resulting from sources directly linked to an organization, and Scope 2 emissions, resulting from the generation of purchased energy such as electricity and cooling, can be more easily tracked.

Related:Navigating Scope 3 Emissions for Sustainable Data Center Operations

However, Scope 3 emissions are more difficult to trace as they include indirect emissions from sources such as a data center’s supply chain and customer base, waste management, and business travel.

The iMasons Climate Accord governing body said that access to the critical information in EPDs will empower data center owners and operators to effectively calculate their environmental impact and choose products and services based on lower Scope 3 emissions.

‘Meaningful Change’

In an accompanying press release this week, the coalition stated that although an increasing number of local, state, and federal procurement policies request EPDs across multiple industries, there is no widespread adoption of EPDs in the data center industry.

“The open letter demonstrates a significant push forward from the world’s largest hyperscalers and digital infrastructure companies to drive meaningful change across the industry, working in partnership with their trusted suppliers,” the group said.

Miranda Gardiner, executive director of the iMasons Climate Accord, said: “The adoption of EPDs within the global supply chain fosters both sustainable and accountable outcomes. As standardized and verified data provides a layer of transparency, this initiative supports a collective approach to reducing our carbon emissions and environmental footprints.”

Related:AI Revolution Will Add Fuel to Data Center Boom, BlackRock Says

Industry Support

One of the signatories of the open letter, Schneider Electric has been placing increased focus on sustainable energy solutions. According to Anne Timme, head of sustainability at the company’s secure power and data centers division, EPDs are a useful way of delivering transparent environmental information about products.

“Schneider Electric has been publishing EPDs as Product Environmental Profiles under the PEP Ecopassport Programme since 2008,” Timme told Data Center Knowledge.

“Doing so allows us to deliver transparent environmental information about our solutions in the form of a quantitative Type III EPD, and in compliance with ISO 14025. 

Read more of the latest data center sustainability news

“Based on the complete Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a product, the document presents clear environmental information regarding the potential impact. This includes energy consumption, carbon footprint, consumption of raw materials, and pollution of air, water, and soil.”

On the operations side, meanwhile, Aaron Binkley, vice president of sustainability for Digital Realty, said the company was actively collaborating with major suppliers on circular economy initiatives.

Related:Hydrogen-Powered Data Centers: A Sustainable Solution?

“Ensuring the availability of EPDs is critical to that effort,” Binkley told Data Center Knowledge. “In the past year, we have significantly increased our engagement with major suppliers on material sustainability issues, including the availability of EPDs for products that don’t already have them. 

Carbon Tracking

In the face of soaring demand for digital infrastructure and escalating power constraints, sustainability remains one of the data center industry’s most pressing issues.

The coalition’s announcement comes a week after Amazon reported its emissions had fallen by 3% in 2023. Google’s emissions, by contrast, shot up by 48% over the past five years, which the company largely attributed to the higher energy consumption needed to support the growth of AI technology.

Microsoft announced a similar issue in May, with carbon emissions rising by 30% since 2020 due to AI overheads. The company said it is committed to achieving zero carbon emissions by 2030.