iMasons issues open letter on decarbonisation targets

Author: Simon Rowley

The Governing Body of the iMasons Climate Accord, a programme of Infrastructure Masons, is calling on all suppliers serving data centres to support greater transparency in Scope 3 emissions as part of broader efforts to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint.

Consisting of AWS, Digital Realty, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Schneider Electric, the Governing Body released an open letter today that explains the importance of widespread adoption of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), which are standardised, third-party-verified documents reporting the embodied emissions of a product. EPDs outline the greenhouse gas emissions of a product through its entire lifecycle, from the raw materials in the product (e.g., how they are extracted, transported, and processed), to manufacturing, transportation, product use, and product end-of-life (e.g., landfill, recycling, repurposing, etc.).

While EPDs are common in some business sectors, there is not widespread adoption of EPDs in the data centre industry. The open letter demonstrates a significant push forward from the world’s largest hyperscalers and digital infrastructure companies to drive meaningful change across the industry, working in partnership with their trusted suppliers.

It is essential to continue to ensure the digital infrastructure industry decarbonises as it grows. The signatories of the iMasons Governing Body’s open letter all have net zero carbon emissions commitments in place to address their responsibility in mitigating data centre carbon emissions (with deadlines ranging from 2025 to 2040, which is at least 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement), and this letter marks another milestone toward decarbonising of operations.

Hyperscalers have implemented strategies to reduce and/or mitigate Scope 1 and 2 emissions. As they seek to reach net zero carbon emissions in the coming years, solving the next piece of the sustainability puzzle lies in reducing Scope 3 emissions, which can represent anywhere from 38-69% of data centres’ total carbon footprint. Scope 3 emissions are not produced by the company itself; rather, they include the indirect emissions throughout the value chain.

Access to the critical information in EPDs empowers data centre owners, operators, and end users to effectively calculate their environmental impact and choose products (servers, cooling systems, uninterruptible power supplies) and services based on lower Scope 3 emissions, best aligning with sustainability targets.

“EPDs are crucial in transforming the future of digital infrastructure to be more resilient and climate positive. The adoption of EPDs within the global supply chain fosters both sustainable and accountable outcomes. As standardised and verified data provides a layer of transparency, this initiative supports a collective approach to reducing our carbon emissions and environmental footprints,” says Miranda Gardiner, Executive Director of the iMasons Climate Accord, a coalition of 250+ members that represents an $8 trillion combined market cap.

“At AWS, we are committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions across our operations by 2040 by investing in carbon-free energy, scaling solutions, and collaborating with partners to broaden our impact,” adds Eric Wilcox, Vice President of Data Centre Engineering at AWS. “We support the iMasons call for suppliers to adopt the use of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). Doing so will provide greater transparency in Scope 3 emissions embodied in equipment and help accelerate the overall industry’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.”

“As a leading data centre company, we recognise the need to address Scope 3 emissions associated with the construction of new data centres,” notes Lex Coors, Chief Data Centre Technology & Engineering Officer for Digital Realty and Infrastructure Masons Governing Body member. “By advocating for the adoption of EPDs, we’re not just committing to transparency; we are taking a decisive step towards empowering the entire industry to make informed, responsible choices that align with our collective sustainability ambitions. This initiative is crucial 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 to achieve net zero emissions across all our operations and value chain, we support industry-wide adoption of Environmental Product Declarations as a crucial lever in low-carbon procurement of digital infrastructure,” says Joe Kava, Vice President, Global Data Centres, Google. “As a member of the Governing Board of iMasons Climate Accord, Google is excited to help accelerate solutions that drive progress toward a more sustainable, transparent data centre industry.”

“Reducing our emissions is Meta’s top priority to reach net zero emissions across our value chain in 2030. We join our peers in calling for greater transparency in the data centre supply chain to better understand the embodied carbon of the infrastructure that underpins our operations. These declarations will play an important role in accelerating decarbonisation efforts for the data centres of tomorrow,” observes Rachel Peterson, VP, Infrastructure Data Centres at Meta.

“Microsoft has committed to becoming carbon negative by 2030 and removing all greenhouse gas emissions produced since our 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,” notes Shirin O’Connor, CVP, Datacenter Engineering, Procurement & Construction, Microsoft.

“To enable the digital infrastructure industry to align with net zero emissions goals, carbon emissions must be a fundamental consideration in procurement decisions,” explains iMasons Governing Body Member, Anna Timme, who is also the Head of Sustainability for Secure Power and Data Centres at Schneider Electric. “Promoting industry-wide adoption of EPDs is a critical step in enabling carbon-informed decision making. Schneider Electric has been dedicated to publishing EPDs since 2008, and we are excited about the significant impact that industry adoption will have as we collectively progress toward net zero.”

The open letter is the second issued by the ICA calling for action from suppliers to accelerate decarbonisation efforts. In April 2023, the Governing Body of the ICA called on data centre industry suppliers to use lower-carbon concrete in data centre infrastructure.

For more from iMasons Climate Accord, click here.