The governing body of the iMasons Climate Accord, a programme of Infrastructure Masons (iMasons), is calling on suppliers serving data centres to support greater transparency in Scope 3 emissions. The iMasons Climate Accord also represents a coalition of over 250 members representing a market cap of US$8 trillion ($10.75 trillion) in total.
The governing body, which consists of Amazon Web Services (AWS); data centre owner and operator Digital Realty, the sponsor of SGX-listed Digital Core REIT; Google; Meta; Microsoft and Schneider Electric, released an open letter explaining the importance of the widespread adoption of environmental product declarations (EPDs).
EPDs are a standardised, third-party-verified set of documents that report the embodied emissions of a product. They outline the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of a product through its entire lifecycle – from raw materials to manufacturing, transportation and product end-of-life.
According to the iMasons release dated July 16, EPDs are not common in the data centre industry. As such, the open letter shows a “significant push” forward from the world’s largest hyperscalers and digital infrastructure companies to drive change across the industry.
“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 centerer 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,” reads the release.
““EPDs are crucial in transforming the future of digital infrastructure to be more resilient and climate positive,” says Miranda Gardiner, executive director of the iMasons Climate Accord. She adds that the adoption of EPDs will foster both “sustainable and accountable outcomes”.
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"As a leading data centre company, we recognize the need to address Scope 3 emissions associated with the construction of new data centres,” said 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."
“To enable the digital infrastructure industry to align with net-zero emissions goals, carbon emissions must be a fundamental consideration in procurement decisions," says 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 iMasons Climate Accord, after the first one, asking data centre suppliers to use lower-carbon concrete in data centre infrastructure was issued in April 2023.
