Microsoft Azure: Microsoft's transparency bid: Cloud emissions dashboard now generally available

In its latest sustainability effort, Microsoft has announced that its Emissions Impact Dashboard, first announced in January 2020, is now widely available. According to the tech giant, this tool enables greater transparency and allows users to gain insight into greenhouse gas emissions associated with using Microsoft cloud services.

In its newest form, the tool now includes calculations around Scope 3 emissions. It also enables users to view emissions by month, service, and datacenter region.

In a blog post, speaking about the tool, Microsoft, general manager of global industry product marketing Kees Hertogh, said: "As cloud services continue to scale, their impact on the environment cannot be overlooked. That's why today we're announcing the general availability of the Microsoft Emissions Impact Dashboard, a tool that helps Microsoft cloud customers understand, track, report, analyze and reduce carbon emissions associated with their cloud usage."

He added: "The Emissions Impact Dashboard is part of our commitment to address our own environmental impact and help our customers do the same. We introduced the Emissions Impact Dashboard in January 2020 as the Microsoft Sustainability Calculator. Designed to help customers gather meaningful, shareable information, the Emissions Impact Dashboard gleans critical insights to help organizations make more informed, data-driven decisions about sustainable computing."

Some companies are beginning to see it as imperative to move away from the traditional data center for both sustainability and cost reasons. That's not to say that data centers are becoming obsolete. According to the 2021 State of the Data Center Report, over half of respondents (58%) reported noticing a trend for companies and organizations to move away from the public cloud and instead "look to colocation or private data centers."