A platform helps organisations monitor and cut emissions from cloud computing

The platform is designed to help organisations track and reduce their scope three emissions

Spotted: The digital world has an environmental impact on the real world. Climate analysts The Shift Project estimate that emissions from cloud computing alone are now around 4 per cent of all global greenhouse gas emissions, more than emissions from commercial flights (around 2.4 per cent). Now, London-based Greenpixie hopes to do something about this. 

The startup’s flagship project, called Cloud NetZero, is a platform designed to aggregate data from all of an organisation’s cloud providers, such as AWS (Amazon Web Services), Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, into one comprehensive account. The platform provides transparency and actionable data on cloud-based greenhouse gas emissions across organisations.

The emissions data highlighted by Cloud NetZero can be exported into ESG reporting systems and used to analyse Scope 3 carbon emissions. These are all the emissions that an organisation is indirectly responsible for, such as buying products from suppliers, and the use of data centres and cloud computing. Scope 3 emissions account for more than 70 per cent of the carbon footprint of most organisations, and yet are often the hardest to track and address.

Greenpixie CEO and Co-Founder, John Ridd, commented on Greenpixie’s release of Cloud NetZero, saying, “Until now, no one has taken responsibility for the staggering environmental impact of cloud computing. At Greenpixie we see Cloud NetZero as a rare business opportunity that can give the investment and productivity gains of scalable software, with an equally scalable positive impact on the planet – so we can bring sustainability to the digital world.”

There are currently around 150 companies signed up to trial the Beta version of the software.

With people in Europe and the US getting used to e-vehicles and other replacements for internal combustion engines, attention is rapidly turning to the huge and growing use of carbon in the digital world. This is where innovations will be needed to stem the use of carbon in the future. Already, Springwise has spotted several innovations in this area, including a company that helps organisations make better choices regarding their carbon footprint and a platform that helps organisations manage their environmental impact.