Carbon calculator promises accurate emission estimates

The framework, detailed in a whitepaper available for download here, includes a free Lifecycle CO2e TradeOff tool, the first of its kind for accurately estimating the total carbon footprint of data centers – including Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.

By quantifying Scope 3 emissions from their value chain, organizations can measure their total carbon footprint, including outsourced IT services from cloud and colocation service providers. This Schneider Electric whitepaper takes a data-driven approach to helping data center operators identify and categorize emissions from operations and the supply chain, then prioritize efforts to make impactful carbon reductions.

As the US and EU are proposing rules to mandate, enhance, and standardize climate-related disclosures, accounting for and reporting on Scope 3 emissions will become a future requirement. Establishing and implementing a GHG framework that incorporates carbon counting and target setting while systematically reviewing company data and emission sources, is the foundation to creating an achievable reduction plan. Electricity generation, GHG emissions, and water consumption determine the carbon footprint and water footprint of data centers, including that of its suppliers.

“Developing a climate strategy that identifies the biggest source of carbon emissions in the value chain is fast becoming a data center industry priority alongside the urgency to establish easy-to-use frameworks. We are 100 percent behind the drive for the industry to become the most sustainable in the world by making resources free and readily available,” said Pankaj Sharma, Executive Vice President, Secure Power Division at Schneider Electric. “We have shared our latest whitepaper, and our free Lifecycle CO2 calculator, at a time when data center operators are increasingly trying to understand their carbon footprint. Proactive data center operators understand they will be held accountable for achieving net-zero climate goals in the future to meet the expectations of their stakeholders, including customers, investors, employees, business partners and communities up and down the value chain.”

Highlights of the whitepaper include:

· A “Data Center Lifecycle CO2e Calculator” to quantify the details driving Scope 3 in an enterprise data center like embodied and sub-system embodied carbon.

· An approach to managing a hypothetical 1-megawatt data center with a focus on Scope 3 emissions and proposed actions for improvements like purchasing efficient and low carbon products.

· Advice on standardized metrics and what to measure like fuel and energy-related activities, upstream transportation and distribution.