Strengthening Our Emissions Accounting Process
In the global effort to combat climate change, accurate and transparent emissions accounting plays a pivotal role. It’s not just a best practice, it’s an essential tool for driving meaningful climate action.
For companies, like Akamai, that rely on data centers to power services, achieving consistent and accurate emissions reporting is critical to supporting sustainability goals and aligning with global frameworks such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol).
Differing reporting practices for emissions data
Colocation and multi-tenant data centers are shared environments in which indirect emissions arise from energy used by the data center providers' infrastructure equipment, as well as equipment installed by their customers. Akamai partners with many data center providers around the globe, and we have found that reporting practices differ significantly across vendors.
Although some providers account for all power consumed at their facilities, including customer equipment, others limit their reporting to data center transmission equipment, shared infrastructure such as cooling equipment, common areas, or a combination depending on the provider.
These differences can create gaps in reporting and misalignment with the GHG Protocol’s aim of ensuring comprehensive and transparent emissions data. These reporting variations mainly translate into double-counting emissions or not accounting for the emissions in either parties’ reports.
Establishing consistent, accurate standards
At Akamai, we recognize the complexities of emissions accounting and reporting. As the digital economy continues to grow, so does the importance of establishing consistent, accurate standards for emissions reporting. Doing so is not only key to achieving corporate sustainability targets but is also critical for fostering trust and enabling collective action across the industry.
In addition, by removing these misalignments and standardizing how the GHG Protocol’s accounting guidelines are applied, the focus can shift to new clean energy production discussions.
The opportunity to act
With updates to the GHG Protocol underway, we have an opportunity to address these discrepancies and lay the groundwork for more consistent emissions reporting. It is crucial to ensure that all colocation providers are uniformly adopting and applying the GHG Protocol’s accounting practices in a similar fashion.
Accurate data and consistency provides a foundation for businesses to identify emission sources, invest in renewable energy, and implement impactful decarbonization strategies. It also ensures that corporate efforts are measurable and aligned with global climate goals.
The Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA) Data Center Working Group offers an important platform for collaboration. The ultimate objective of the Workgroup is to foster deeper collaboration among colocation service providers and their customers, encouraging a shared commitment to reducing emissions. By bringing together providers and customers, this initiative aims to develop a standard that aligns with the GHG Protocol while enabling scalable and impactful emissions reductions across the data center industry.
A collaborative path forward
As we move toward this vision, three priorities emerge.
- Enhancing standardization: Data center service providers must align on standardized approaches and principles to account for and report on greenhouse gas emissions.
- Fostering transparency: Providers should share detailed data on energy consumption and emissions to ensure accuracy and consistency in reporting.
- Engaging in industry initiatives: Participation in collaborative efforts, such as the CEBA Data Center Working Group , is crucial to advancing shared goals and developing industry-wide standards among data center service providers and customers.
Shared responsibility, shared progress
By working together, we can address the challenges of emissions accounting in colocation data centers and build a framework that supports sustainability efforts across the industry. This way, we can collectively ensure that emissions accounting reflects our shared commitment to addressing climate change.
At Akamai, we remain committed to advancing these discussions and contributing to solutions that benefit all stakeholders. Together, we can create a stronger, more transparent foundation for progress — one that drives meaningful change at scale.
For more information about Akamai’s sustainability strategy, please visit our sustainability microsite.