Scope 3 Data Center Emissions

Scope 3 data center emissions are a critical consideration as the data center industry strives to mitigate its environmental impact across the entire value chain. According to Schneider Electric’s Lin and Bunger, Scope 3 is set to become the most significant contributor to a data center’s overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These indirect emissions result from activities and assets not directly owned or controlled by the data center itself, but are nonetheless influenced by its operations—for example, the emissions generated in the production and transport of MEP infrastructure.

The first step on the path to becoming carbon neutral is developing a baseline of emissions. That’s difficult enough thinking about the data center in isolation; it’s exponentially more complicated when considering the entire value chain. Scope 3 reveals how much carbon is embedded in all facets of the data center—from batteries in the UPS to concrete and steel in the building—as well as emissions from upstream and downstream in the supply chain.

Schneider Electric’s Lin and Bunger argue that Scope 3 “is poised to become the most significant contributor to a data center’s overall GHG emissions.” The researchers’ latest whitepaper, Recommended Inventory for Data Center Scope 3 GHG Emissions Reporting, offers the first standardized data center-relevant framework for Scope 3 accounting and reporting. It includes nine emissions source categories and their data center specific subcategories:

• Purchased goods and services—e.g., core and shell (materials) and cloud services
• Capital goods—e.g., IT equipment, power equipment, cooling equipment
• Fuel (i.e. diesel, natural gas) and energy (i.e. electricity, cooling) related activities
• Upstream transportation and distribution—e.g., shipments via road, rail, air, and marine
• Waste generated in operations
• Business travel including air, rail, bus, and automobile travel and hotel night stays
• Employee commuting including automobile travel, public transport, and telecommuting
• Upstream leased assets including leased vehicles, buildings, and colocation data center space
• Downstream leased assets including multi-tenant and single-tenant data centers

In the era of the AI data center, power requirements are increasingly massive, and density is rising. Liquid cooling is becoming essential to support next-generation processors, and fortunately, it also presents an opportunity to reduce Scope 3 emissions substantially. By minimizing the amount of MEP data center infrastructure required and enabling smaller, more efficient buildings, liquid cooling can significantly decrease the embedded carbon footprint associated with a data center’s construction and equipment.

Explore more in our whitepaper Liquid Cooling is More Sustainable.