OVHcloud launches carbon calculator for customer cloud emissions

The European cloud provider is encouraging more transparency and responsible IT usage with its new tool

OVHcloud has launched a carbon calculator to provide its IaaS customers with deeper insights into their environmental impact and help them meet their sustainable targets.

The new tool will provide monthly reports on customer cloud-related carbon emissions to give a better understanding of their cloud infrastructure carbon footprint.

The European cloud provider said the methodology behind its carbon calculator required more than eight months of development, and aims to be exhaustive, by considering factors such as manufacturing down to the component level.

Accessible on demand from the OVHcloud customer panel, the tool takes into account the estimated electrical consumption of servers from OVHcloud datacentre monitoring and maps them to their carbon equivalent.

It also considers the cooling and networking equipment, as well as freight, manufacturing, end of life and waste management, to provide a complete picture of the actual carbon footprint.

The OVHcloud carbon calculator software stack was developed in conjunction with Sopra Steria, while the methodology was audited by IJO, an independent consulting firm specialising in green IT.

"With sustainability rooted in our DNA, we constantly challenge ourselves to improve the carbon footprint of our overall operations," said OVHcloud CEO, Michel Paulin.

"We are more than ever aware of the importance for our customers of calculating their carbon footprint as accurately as possible.

"We are therefore extremely happy to give them a precise reading and understanding of it, all with a single click of the mouse."

OVHcloud's sustainability targets

The group's CEO outlined to CRN last year how his company had become more sustainable in the past year.

Paulin highlighted OVHcloud's datacentres which take advantage of water cooling, allowing them to use less electricity.

He added that the cloud provider has set very ambitious targets for 2025 and 2030.

"We will be net carbon zero on our own operations including the construction by 2025," he told CRN.

"Net carbon zero on the full scope, including scope 3 by 2030. We will be using 100 per cent renewable energy by 2025."