Elly Yates-Roberts |
Microsoft has launched the new Emissions Impact Dashboard, a tool which helps customers track, analyse and reduce carbon emissions associated with cloud usage.
According to Kees Hertogh, general manager of global industry product marketing at Microsoft, the dashboard is “part of our commitment to address our own environmental impact and help our customers do the same”.
It is designed to help customers to make more informed, data-driven decisions about sustainable computing, for example by highlighting the root causes of emissions changes. Organisations using the tool can measure the impact of Microsoft cloud usage on their carbon footprint, and filter by month, service and data centre region.
In addition, users can enter unmigrated workloads to get an understanding of the savings of migrating to the Microsoft cloud.
Since originally introducing the dashboard in January 2020 as the Sustainability Calculator, Microsoft has focused on improving the calculation of Scope 3 emissions associated with cloud usage. According to Hertogh, these emissions are indirect and occur across the product value chain. As such, they are often the largest source of emissions, but the most difficult to measure. By working in this area, Microsoft aims to provide more complete and accurate emissions reporting and better decisions about sustainability.
Food solutions firm The Bühler Group has been using the Emissions Impact Dashboard to reach its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, by tracking Scopes 1, 2, and 3 emissions.
Find out more about cloud sustainability from Kees Hertogh in the cover story of the Autumn 2021 issue of Technology Record.