Groups call on suppliers to take action to decarbonise digital infrastructure

The Board of Directors of the iMasons Climate Accord, a program of infrastructure masons, is calling on all data center suppliers to commit to greater transparency on Scope 3 emissions as part of a broader effort to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint.

The board, which consists of AWS, Digital Realty, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Schneider Electric, published an open letter on July 16 explaining the importance of widespread adoption of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), which are standardized, third-party verified documents that report a product’s emissions. EPDs describe a product’s greenhouse gas emissions throughout its life cycle, from the raw materials in the product (e.g., how they are extracted, transported and processed) through manufacturing, transportation, product use and end of product life (e.g., landfill, recycling, reuse, etc.).

While more local, state and federal procurement policies across various industries are requiring EPDs, EPDs are not being used across the board in the data center. The open letter shows that the world’s largest hyperscalers and digital infrastructure companies, in partnership with their trusted suppliers, are making a significant push to create meaningful change across the industry.

It is vital to continue to ensure that the digital infrastructure industry is decarbonised as it grows. The signatories of the iMasons Board of Directors’ open letter have all committed to net zero carbon emissions to meet their responsibilities in reducing data centre carbon emissions (with deadlines between 2025 and 2040, at least 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement), and this letter represents another milestone on the journey to decarbonising operations.

Hyperscalers have implemented strategies to reduce and/or mitigate Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. As they aim to achieve net zero carbon emissions in the coming years, the next piece of the sustainability puzzle is to reduce Scope 3 emissions, which can account for between 38 and 69% of the total carbon footprint of data centers. Scope 3 emissions are not caused by the company itself; rather, they include indirect emissions along the entire value chain.

Access to the important information in EPDs enables data center owners, operators and end users to effectively calculate their environmental impact and select products (servers, cooling systems, uninterruptible power supply (UPS)) and services based on lower Scope 3 emissions that best align with sustainability goals. As the iMasons Climate Accord represents a market capitalization of $8 trillion with over 250 members, widespread adoption of EPDs is likely to have a significant impact on reducing global data center carbon emissions.

“EPDs are critical to making the future of digital infrastructure more resilient and climate-friendly. Adopting EPDs across the global supply chain promotes both sustainable and traceable outcomes. As standardized and verified data provides greater transparency, this initiative supports a collective approach to reducing our carbon emissions and environmental footprint,” said Miranda Gardiner, Executive Director of the iMasons Climate Accord.

“At AWS, we are committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions across all our operations 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 Engineering at AWS. “We support iMasons’ call for all suppliers to adopt the use of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) to accelerate this effort. Doing so will provide greater transparency into Scope 3 emissions contained in equipment and accelerate the entire industry’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.”

“As a leader in digital infrastructure, we recognize the urgent need to address all aspects of our carbon footprint, particularly Scope 3 emissions, which represent a significant portion of our environmental impact,” said Lex Coors, Chief Data Center Technology & Engineering Officer for Digital Realty and a member of the Infrastructure Masons Board of Directors. “By championing the adoption of EPDs, we are not only committing to transparency; we are taking a critical step to empower the entire industry to make informed, responsible decisions that align with our shared sustainability ambitions. This initiative is critical as we strive to meet the growing demands of our digital world in a sustainable and responsible way.”

“In line with our commitment to open standards and our company-wide goal to achieve net-zero emissions across all our operations and value chain, we support the industry-wide adoption of Environmental Product Declarations as a critical lever for low-carbon procurement of digital infrastructure,” said Joe Kava, Vice President, Global Data Centers, Google. “As a member of the iMasons Climate Accord Board of Directors, Google is excited to accelerate solutions that drive progress toward a more sustainable, transparent data center industry.”

“Reducing our emissions is a top priority for Meta to achieve net zero emissions across our entire value chain by 2030. We join our peers in calling for greater transparency in the data center supply chain to better understand the carbon content of the infrastructure that supports our operations. These declarations will play a key role in accelerating decarbonization efforts for the data centers of tomorrow,” said Rachel Peterson, VP, Infrastructure Data Centers at Meta.

“Microsoft is committed to becoming carbon negative by 2030 and eliminating all greenhouse gas emissions generated since our founding by 2050. By working with our colleagues to advance sustainability and use digital innovation to drive progress, we are helping to create a more sustainable future for all,” said Shirin O’Connor, CVP, Datacenter Engineering, Procurement & Construction, Microsoft.

“For the digital infrastructure industry to achieve its net zero emissions goals, carbon emissions must play a fundamental role in procurement decisions,” said Anna Timme, iMasons Board Member and Head of Sustainability for Secure Power and Data Centers at Schneider Electric. “Promoting industry-wide adoption of EPDs is a critical step to enable carbon-based decisions. Schneider Electric has been committed to publishing EPDs since 2008 and we are excited about the significant impact industry adoption will have on our collective journey toward net zero.”

The open letter is the second in which the ICA has called on suppliers to accelerate their decarbonisation efforts. In April 2023, the ICA’s governing body called on data centre industry suppliers to use lower-carbon concrete in data centre infrastructure.

-The iMason’s Climate Agreement is a coalition committed to reducing carbon emissions in digital infrastructure. Founded in 2022 by the Infrastructure Masons, the organization has mobilized a community of over 250 members from data centers, networking, cloud computing, energy, and cybersecurity.