The governing body of the iMasons Climate Accord, a program of infrastructure masons, is calling on all data center service providers to maintain greater transparency on Scope 3 emissions as part of a broader effort to reduce the industry's carbon footprint.
A governing body consisting of AWS, Digital Realty, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Schneider Electric has released an open letter explaining the importance of widespread adoption of Green Product Declarations, which are standardized, third-party-verified documents that report the insulation waste product. EPDs describe the GHG emissions of a product throughout its life cycle, from the raw materials in the product (e.g. how they are extracted, transported and processed), to production, transportation, use of the product and end-of-life of the product (e.g. landfill, recycling, repurposing, etc. .d.).
Although EPDs are commonplace in some business sectors, they have not been widely adopted in the data center industry. The open letter demonstrates a significant push by the world's largest hyperscale and digital infrastructure companies to drive significant industry change by working in partnership with their trusted suppliers.
It is critical that we continue to decarbonize the digital infrastructure industry as it grows. All signatories to the iMasons Board of Directors Open Letter have committed to Net Zero Carbon to address their responsibility to reduce data center carbon emissions (with a timeline of 2025 to 2040, which is at least 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement) . , and this letter marks another milestone in the decarbonization of operations.
Hyperscalers have implemented strategies to reduce and/or mitigate Scope 1 and 2 emissions. As they strive to achieve zero carbon emissions in the coming years, the solution to the next piece of the sustainability puzzle is to reduce Scope 3 emissions, which can account for 38 to 69 percent of the total carbon footprint of data centers. Scope 3 emissions are not produced by the company itself; rather, they include indirect emissions throughout the value chain.
Access to critical information in the EPD enables data center owners, operators and end users to effectively calculate their environmental impact and select products (servers, cooling systems, uninterruptible power supplies and services based on lower Scope 3 emissions) that are best meet the goals of sustainable development.
“EPDs are critical to transforming the digital infrastructure of the future to be more sustainable and climate-friendly. Adopting EPDs in the global supply chain promotes both sustainable and responsible outcomes. Because standardized and verified data provides a level of transparency, this initiative supports a collective approach to reducing our carbon emissions and environmental impact,” said Miranda Gardiner, executive director of the iMasons Climate Accord, an $8 trillion coalition of more than 250 members . combined market capitalization.
“At AWS, we are committed to achieving zero carbon emissions in our enterprises by 2040 by investing in carbon-free energy, scaling solutions and working with partners to expand our impact,” said Eric Wilcox, vice president of data center design. in AWS. “We support iMasons' call for suppliers to switch to using environmental product declarations. This will provide greater transparency on Scope 3 emissions from equipment and help accelerate the industry's overall efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.”
“As a leading data center company, we recognize the need to address Scope 3 emissions associated with new data center construction,” said Lex Kors, Chief Technology and Engineering Officer of Digital Real Estate Data Center and a member of the Infrastructure Masons Board of Directors . “In promoting the adoption of EPDs, we are not just striving for transparency; we are taking a decisive step towards empowering the entire industry to make informed, responsible choices that align with our collective ambitions for sustainable development. This initiative is critical as we strive to meet the growing demands of our digital world in a sustainable manner.”
“In line with our commitment to open standards and our company-wide goal of achieving zero emissions across our operations and value chain, we support the industry-wide adoption of environmental product declarations as a critical lever in the procurement of low-carbon digital equipment. infrastructure,” said Joe Cava, Google's vice president of global data centers. “As a board member of the iMasons Climate Accord, Google is excited to help accelerate solutions that advance progress toward a more sustainable and transparent data center industry.”
“Reducing our emissions is a top priority for Meta to achieve zero emissions in our value chain by 2030. We join our peers in calling for more transparency in the data center supply chain to better understand the carbon footprint of the infrastructure that underpins our operations. These declarations will play an important role in accelerating efforts to decarbonize the data centers of tomorrow,” said Rachel Peterson, Vice President of Infrastructure Data Centers at Meta.
“Microsoft is committed to becoming carbon negative by 2030 and eliminating all greenhouse gas emissions from its founding by 2050. By joining our peers in promoting sustainability and using digital innovation to drive progress, Microsoft is helping to create a more sustainable future for all,” said Shireen O'Connor, CVP, Microsoft Data Center Design, Procurement and Construction.
“For the digital infrastructure industry to meet net zero emissions targets, carbon emissions must be a fundamental factor in procurement decisions,” said iMasons board member Anna Thiem, who is also head of sustainability for secure power and data centers at Schneider Electric Company. “Promoting industry-wide adoption of EPDs is a critical step in carbon-informed decision-making. Schneider Electric has been publishing EPDs since 2008, and we are excited about the significant impact that industry adoption will have as we move together towards net zero.”
The open letter is the second issued by the ICA to call on suppliers to take action to accelerate decarbonisation efforts. In April 2023, the ICA Governing Council called on data center industry suppliers to use low-carbon concrete in their data center infrastructure.
