How to measure emissions from Digital: Web and cloud hosting

What counts as Digital: Web and cloud hosting

Digital: Web and cloud hosting covers the compute, storage and electricity consumed by hosting websites, applications and data with third-party cloud or web hosting providers. It's reported under Scope 3 Category 1, using usage-based units — virtual CPU hours (vCPUh), storage terabyte-hours (TBh) and, where a provider reports it directly, electricity by region or kilograms of CO2 equivalent — rather than spend, since hosting usage varies independently of price.

Cloud and web hosting is unusual among purchased services in that the underlying providers increasingly expose granular usage data directly — vCPU-hours consumed, storage capacity held over time, and sometimes region-specific electricity or carbon figures — making usage-based reporting genuinely achievable rather than a spend-based compromise. Region matters significantly here, since the same compute workload run in different data centre regions draws on grids with very different electricity intensities, which is why electricity by region (Australia, EU average, New Zealand, Singapore, UK, US) is tracked separately from generic vCPU or storage usage. This differs from Information technology, which covers hardware and services you procure and own, and from Computers, which covers physical devices — this category is specifically about consuming someone else's infrastructure as a service. Storage type also matters: HDD and SSD storage are tracked separately by region, since the energy profile of spinning disk and solid-state storage differs.

What activity data you need

Collect the most specific physical unit available. Unit definitions are in Appendix I — Description of Units.

• kWh

Which emission scope it falls under

Digital: Web and cloud hosting activity data typically maps to Scope 3 Category 1 under the GHG Protocol. Confirm organisational boundary and ownership before reporting.

Sub-types available in the platform

All 15 sub-types available in the platform.

• Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)
• Electricity: Australia
• Electricity: EU (average)
• Electricity: New Zealand
• Electricity: Singapore
• Electricity: UK grid
• Electricity: US: Average
• Storage: HDD: EU
• Storage: HDD: UK
• Storage: HDD: US
• Storage: SSD: EU
• Storage: SSD: UK
• Storage: SSD: US
• Virtual CPU: UK
• Virtual CPU: US

Common questions

Should I use hosting spend or usage data — does it matter much?

Usage data matters significantly more here than in many categories, because cloud pricing varies by provider, discount tier and commitment level in ways that have nothing to do with actual resource consumption. Use vCPU-hours and storage wherever your provider's console allows it.

Why does the region I host in matter?

Grid electricity intensity varies substantially by region and country, so identical compute usage in, say, the UK versus Singapore can have quite different associated emissions. Use the region-specific electricity subtype that matches where your workloads actually run.

How do I get vCPU-hour and storage data from AWS, Azure or Google Cloud?

Each major provider's billing or cost management console can typically export usage broken down by service, instance type and region — check under cost and usage reports or billing exports, since the exact menu name varies by provider.

Does this cover on-premises servers we run ourselves?

No — servers you own and operate on your own premises are typically tracked under your organisation's own electricity and IT hardware categories, since you control the equipment directly rather than consuming a hosting service.

Do CDN and edge services count here too?

Yes, if they're billed as part of your cloud or web hosting usage — content delivery network and edge compute are part of the same hosted-infrastructure activity, so include their usage alongside core compute and storage where your provider itemises them.