Measuring IT Carbon

How Do You Measure the Carbon Footprint of IT?

Measuring the carbon footprint of IT means understanding the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the technology your organisation buys, operates and ultimately disposes of. 

That includes more than electricity consumption. 

A meaningful IT carbon footprint can include emissions associated with devices, infrastructure, data centres, cloud services, energy use, technology suppliers and the manufacture and disposal of equipment. 

The challenge is bringing those different sources together into a consistent picture. 

The objective should not simply be to produce a carbon number. It should be to understand where emissions are coming from, what is driving them and where the organisation has the greatest opportunity to make better decisions. 

What Should Be Included in an IT Carbon Footprint? 

The first step is defining what you are measuring. 

Depending on the organisation, an IT carbon footprint might include: 

• Laptops and desktop computers 

• Monitors and peripherals 

• Mobile devices 

• Servers 

• Storage 

• Networking equipment 

• On-premise data centres 

• Colocation facilities 

• Cloud infrastructure and services 

• Purchased technology services 

• Software and digital platforms 

• Energy used to operate technology 

• Technology procurement 

• Transportation and distribution 

• End-of-life treatment and disposal 

Not every organisation needs to measure every area at the same level of detail from day one. 

What matters is establishing a clear scope so that the organisation understands what the calculation includes and where boundaries have been drawn. 

Where Do Scope 2 and Scope 3 Fit? 

For most organisations, understanding IT carbon requires looking across both operational energy and the wider technology value chain. 

Scope 2 can include emissions associated with purchased electricity used to power technology and digital infrastructure. 

Scope 3 can include emissions associated with activities such as manufacturing equipment, purchasing technology services, transportation and end-of-life treatment. 

Looking at only one side can create an incomplete picture. 

An energy-efficient device, for example, may reduce operational emissions, but manufacturing a replacement also creates emissions elsewhere in the lifecycle. 

Measurement therefore needs to provide enough context to support better decisions rather than treating individual emissions sources in isolation. 

For a deeper explanation of the value-chain element, see What Is Scope 3 in IT and Why Does It Matter? 

How Do You Establish the Boundary of Your IT Carbon Footprint? 

Before collecting data, decide what sits inside the assessment. 

That may involve defining: 

• Which business units are included 

• Which countries or locations are covered 

• Which technology categories are included 

• Whether cloud and outsourced services are included 

• Which reporting period is being measured 

• How shared infrastructure will be treated 

• Which lifecycle stages are included 

• Which emissions scopes are relevant 

Clear boundaries make future comparison much easier. 

If the scope changes significantly every time the calculation is performed, it becomes difficult to understand whether emissions have genuinely increased or decreased. 

What Data Do You Need? 

Once the scope is clear, identify the information needed to calculate emissions. 

Depending on the technology being measured, this could include: 

• Asset inventories 

• Manufacturer and model information 

• Quantity of equipment 

• Purchase and deployment dates 

• Location 

• Asset status 

• Electricity consumption 

• Data centre energy information 

• Cloud usage 

• Supplier information 

• Product carbon footprint data 

• Environmental Product Declarations or lifecycle information 

• Procurement records 

• Disposal and recycling records 

Some of this information may already exist within IT, procurement, finance, facilities or sustainability systems. 

The challenge is often connecting it. 

Where information is incomplete, organisations can use appropriate estimates and improve the dataset over time. This is explored in more detail in Do You Need Perfect Data to Start Measuring IT Carbon? 

How Are IT Carbon Emissions Calculated? 

At a simple level, carbon calculations connect an activity or asset with an appropriate emissions factor or product-specific carbon value. 

For electricity, that might mean combining energy consumption with the relevant emissions factor for the electricity being used. 

For technology hardware, the calculation may use manufacturer-specific lifecycle information or other appropriate carbon data associated with the type of equipment. 

Different approaches may be required depending on the availability and quality of information. 

The important principles are consistency and transparency. 

The organisation should be able to understand: 

• What data was used 

• Where it came from 

• Which methodology was applied 

• Where estimates were necessary 

• Which assumptions were made 

• Where uncertainty remains 

That makes the result more useful and allows the methodology to improve as better information becomes available. 

What Does CO₂e Mean? 

Carbon footprints are usually expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent, or CO₂e. Different greenhouse gases have different warming effects, so CO₂e converts them into a common unit based on their relative impact. This allows emissions from different activities, energy sources and lifecycle stages to be combined and compared consistently. 

For IT carbon measurement, CO₂e provides the common unit that brings together operational emissions such as electricity use with embodied and lifecycle emissions associated with hardware, infrastructure and purchased technology. 

What Are EPD and LCA Data? 

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a standardised document that reports quantified environmental information about a product, usually based on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Where available for technology products, an EPD can provide more specific evidence about impacts associated with manufacturing, materials, transport, use and end of life. 

A Life Cycle Assessment looks at environmental impacts across defined stages of a product or service lifecycle. For IT hardware, that can include raw material extraction, component production, manufacturing, transport, use and end-of-life treatment. LCA data therefore helps organisations understand embodied and lifecycle carbon rather than looking only at electricity consumed while equipment is in use. 

EPDs and LCAs are not available for every asset or supplier. Where product-specific data exists, it can improve the granularity of the calculation. Where it does not, appropriate secondary datasets or emissions factors can be used, provided the methodology and assumptions are transparent. 

How Do Product-Specific Data and Estimates Work Together? 

The most useful IT carbon footprint may combine several levels of data. Product-specific EPD or LCA information can be used where available, while representative lifecycle data, supplier information or recognised emissions factors can fill gaps elsewhere. 

The aim is not to pretend every figure has the same level of precision. It is to record the source and quality of the data, use the best available evidence for the decision being made and improve the calculation as more specific information becomes available. 

Why Does Location Matter for Electricity Emissions? 

The carbon intensity of electricity varies by location. 

Two identical pieces of technology consuming the same amount of electricity in different countries or regions may therefore be associated with different Scope 2 emissions. 

For organisations with technology operating across multiple locations, applying appropriate location-based emissions factors can provide a more representative picture of operational carbon impact. 

This can be particularly relevant for distributed digital estates, data centres and infrastructure operating across different energy grids. 

How Do You Measure the Carbon Impact of IT Hardware? 

Hardware has carbon impacts across its lifecycle. 

These can include: 

• Raw material extraction 

• Component production 

• Manufacturing and assembly 

• Transportation 

• Energy consumed during use 

• Maintenance and repair 

• End-of-life processing 

Product-specific lifecycle information can help organisations understand these impacts where it is available. 

That becomes particularly useful when comparing procurement or replacement options. 

Looking only at energy consumption during use may suggest that newer equipment is automatically the more sustainable choice. 

Looking at lifecycle emissions can produce a more informed decision because the carbon created by manufacturing the replacement also needs to be considered. 

How Do You Measure Cloud and Digital Services? 

Cloud services create a different measurement challenge because the physical infrastructure is owned and operated by another organisation. 

The customer may consume computing, storage, software or other digital services without directly seeing the servers, energy use or infrastructure behind them. 

Measurement may therefore depend on information supplied by the provider, usage data and appropriate methodologies for allocating emissions to the service consumed. 

The level of information available can vary between providers and services. 

For organisations with significant cloud estates, understanding these dependencies is increasingly important because moving infrastructure off-site does not remove its environmental impact. 

It changes where that impact occurs and who holds the underlying data. 

What Is an IT Carbon Baseline? 

Once emissions have been calculated across the agreed scope, the organisation can establish a baseline. 

The baseline provides a reference point for understanding future change. 

It can help answer questions such as: 

• Which areas of IT create the greatest carbon impact? 

• Are emissions increasing or decreasing? 

• Which asset categories should be investigated? 

• Is technology growth increasing emissions? 

• Are reduction initiatives having an effect? 

• Where could better data improve confidence? 

• Which decisions offer the greatest reduction opportunity? 

The baseline becomes valuable when it is used repeatedly. 

A one-off footprint tells you where you were. 

Consistent measurement can tell you whether the organisation is moving in the right direction. 

What Should You Do Once You Have Measured IT Carbon? 

Measurement should lead to decisions. 

Once the organisation understands where emissions are concentrated, it can investigate what is driving them. 

That might lead to action around: 

• Improving asset utilisation 

• Extending useful equipment life 

• Reducing unnecessary procurement 

• Retiring unused technology 

• Selecting more energy-efficient equipment 

• Reviewing infrastructure utilisation 

• Working with suppliers to obtain better environmental data 

• Introducing carbon into procurement decisions 

• Improving disposal and reuse 

• Reviewing cloud and digital resource consumption 

The right action depends on the carbon hotspot and the operational context. 

This is why a single total carbon figure is not enough. 

Decision-makers need enough detail to understand what sits behind it. 

How Often Should You Measure IT Carbon? 

Carbon measurement becomes more useful when it forms part of ongoing technology management rather than an annual reporting exercise. 

That does not necessarily mean recalculating every asset every day. 

The appropriate frequency depends on the organisation, the systems available and the decisions being made. 

The important thing is to capture significant changes. 

New technology is purchased. Assets are retired. Cloud consumption changes. Infrastructure grows. Suppliers change. Electricity grids evolve. 

A carbon picture that is never updated can quickly stop representing the digital estate it is supposed to describe. 

How Can IT Carbon Measurement Support Better Technology Decisions? 

Carbon measurement provides another dimension to technology decision-making. 

Traditionally, organisations might compare options based on factors such as: 

• Purchase price 

• Performance 

• Security 

• Reliability 

• Support 

• Operational cost 

Carbon data allows environmental impact to become part of that assessment. 

That does not mean carbon automatically overrides every other consideration. 

It means decision-makers can understand the trade-offs. 

A lower-carbon option that also reduces energy consumption, improves utilisation or avoids unnecessary procurement may deliver both environmental and financial benefits. 

How Does Measurement Support Carbon Reporting and Customer Requirements? 

Organisations may need IT carbon information for several reasons. 

It can support: 

• Corporate carbon reporting 

• Sustainability strategies 

• Scope 2 and Scope 3 analysis 

• Carbon reduction plans 

• Customer assurance 

• Tender and procurement requirements 

• Supplier reporting 

• Environmental management systems 

• Internal investment decisions 

The same underlying data can therefore serve multiple purposes. 

Building a consistent measurement capability is more efficient than reconstructing the IT carbon footprint separately every time a customer, sustainability team or reporting requirement asks for information. 

Where Does COzPro Fit? 

COzPro supports the measurement process by connecting IT asset and infrastructure information with carbon data across the digital estate. 

This can help organisations calculate and analyse relevant Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions, apply appropriate carbon information to technology assets and build a repeatable measurement capability. 

Rather than reconstructing the IT carbon footprint each time information is needed, organisations can develop a clearer and increasingly detailed view of how emissions change across the estate. 

Measure What You Can Act On 

The most valuable IT carbon footprint is not necessarily the one with the largest number of decimal places. 

It is the one that helps the organisation understand its impact and make better decisions. 

Define the scope. Bring together the available data. Calculate emissions consistently. Understand the limitations. Identify the hotspots. 

Then use that information to decide what to do next. 

Talk to KA2 about measuring the carbon footprint of your IT and digital estate and turning carbon data into practical action.