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To check a provider’s carbon-free electricity claim, ask for the specific facility or cloud region, reporting period, hourly or annual matching method, grid boundary, and the customer emissions methodology. A renewable-energy purchase equal to annual electricity use does not show that clean electricity matched the load every hour. Compare the provider’s claims with its regional data and customer-report boundaries rather than treating a portfolio-wide percentage as proof of 24/7 carbon-free power.

Start by defining what “carbon-free” means

Ask the provider to define its claim and list which generation technologies it counts. Renewable electricity, carbon-free electricity (CFE), an annual renewable-energy purchase equal to consumption, an emissions reduction, and net zero are different claims. Google’s 2021 methodology describes CFE as electricity from sources that do not directly emit carbon dioxide, including nuclear as well as renewable generation; that is Google’s framing, not a universal definition. Google’s CFE methodology

Request the metric itself and its denominator: Is the figure a share of electricity consumption, a share of hours matched, or an emissions reduction? Ask whether it includes contracted generation or environmental attributes, and how those are counted. A percentage without its definition and accounting boundary cannot establish what electricity served a particular data-center load.

Ask for the facility or region and reporting period

Request the named facility or cloud region, reporting year, load boundary, and whether the published value describes a site, region, or global portfolio. A global average can hide materially different grid conditions and sourcing results across locations. Google Cloud publishes regional CFE and grid carbon-intensity data, and notes that grid emissions vary by source and time. Google Cloud regional carbon-free energy data

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For each figure, record the reporting period and methodology version. Do not assume a current web page represents an earlier customer report or that an updated method leaves historical estimates unchanged. AWS says its methodology can be updated and historical data may be recalculated. AWS Sustainability User Guide

Find out whether matching is hourly or annual

Ask how closely clean generation is matched to electricity use in both time and place. The key questions are:

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  • Does the provider match generation to load hourly, annually, or only report a global annual purchase total?
  • What grid or market boundary determines whether a generator is relevant to the load?
  • Does the method account for clean generation on the same grid at the time of consumption, or only for annual procurement?

An annual purchase equal to annual consumption can balance totals while leaving some hours unmatched. It is not proof of carbon-free supply for every hour. Google Cloud’s regional CFE metric considers generation feeding the grid at that time and Google-attributed clean generation produced on that grid. AWS says clean-energy projects are accounted for against AWS regions on the same grid. These are provider-specific accounting approaches, not a shared cross-provider standard.

Read both grid emissions and clean-energy matching metrics

A CFE percentage and a grid carbon-intensity figure answer different questions. Google Cloud publishes both for its regions: its CFE percentage reflects Google-attributed clean energy as well as generation feeding the grid, while grid carbon intensity, in gCO₂eq/kWh, indicates operational gross emissions per unit of local grid electricity. Neither metric alone provides a complete picture of a provider’s electricity sourcing or customer emissions. Google Cloud regional data

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When comparing regions or providers, note whether the stated CFE share includes provider investments and whether the intensity is grid-only or reflects an accounting method. Keep those values separate rather than reading a low emissions figure as proof of hourly matching.

Separate electricity sourcing from Scope 2 accounting

Ask for location-based and market-based Scope 2 emissions, if available, along with the emissions factors and reporting boundary behind each figure. They are different accounting views, not interchangeable evidence of physical electricity supply.

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  • Location-based: Google Cloud’s customer Carbon Footprint method uses hourly regional grid emissions intensity and does not reflect electricity-purchase choices.
  • Market-based: Google’s method accounts for clean-energy purchases matched to data-center loads under GHG Protocol standards. The calculations are annual, and the customer report represents prior-year renewable-energy activity.

Google says that where hourly grid factors are unavailable for a cloud region, it uses annual country averages. That substitution reduces the time resolution of the estimate. Read the methodology and the report’s period before interpreting a customer-specific figure. Google Cloud Carbon Footprint reporting methodology

Check what a customer emissions report actually covers

Customer reports may differ in products covered, allocation methods, and lifecycle scope, so their totals should not be compared as if they were produced on an identical basis. Ask which services, regions, usage categories, shared infrastructure, and lifecycle emissions are included, and how provider-wide emissions are allocated to your account.

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  • Google Cloud: The Carbon Footprint methodology describes allocation by product SKU and customer usage, alongside the location- and market-based electricity calculations above. Methodology
  • AWS: Its Sustainability User Guide describes customer-specific estimates based on the GHG Protocol and related standards, with methods independently verified according to the guide. Check the applicable methodology version and report boundary. User Guide
  • Microsoft Azure: Microsoft’s methodology covers specified Azure and Microsoft 365 resources and defined operational and data-center hardware lifecycle stages. Its Scope 2 approach considers efficiency, grid emissions factors, renewable purchases, and infrastructure power. Check the named product scope and methodology date before comparing estimates. Azure Emissions Calculation Methodology

For any report, check whether the calculation has independent assurance and what that assurance covers. Verification of a methodology or estimate is not necessarily independent confirmation that every load was physically matched with carbon-free generation each hour.

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Use this comparison checklist

When assessing two providers or regions, compare the evidence on the same axes:

  • Hourly versus annual matching interval.
  • Grid or market boundary used to connect generation with load.
  • CFE share and grid carbon intensity, kept as separate metrics.
  • Treatment of contracted generation and environmental attributes.
  • Reporting year, methodology version, and data gaps.
  • Customer allocation method, included services, and emissions scope.
  • Whether the method or report is independently assured, and what that assurance covers.

What efficiency figures can—and cannot—tell you

Google reports a fleet-wide average power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.09 for 2025. PUE compares total facility energy with IT equipment energy; it indicates facility overhead, not whether electricity is carbon-free. Google also compares its 2025 figure with Uptime Institute’s 2025 global respondent average of 1.54 and describes 83% less overhead energy than the industry average. That comparison concerns overhead energy under the stated PUE figures; it is not evidence of hourly CFE matching. Google data-center sustainability disclosures

Google also says it signed agreements for nearly 35 GW of new clean energy from 2010 to 2025, including more than 12 GW contracted in 2025 alone. Those are company-reported agreement totals, not a measure of the share of every data-center load matched with carbon-free generation in every hour. Google’s statement that it pays for all electricity used by its data centers and offices, contributes to shared grid infrastructure, brings new resources online, and accelerates emerging technologies is the company’s own description of its approach, not independent verification. Google data-center sustainability disclosures

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What to request for a high-assurance assessment

Public provider disclosures are useful for screening, but the available provider methodologies do not establish a neutral cross-provider registry that independently verifies all providers’ hourly matching on a common basis. If the claim matters for procurement or reporting, request evidence tied to the actual site or cloud region:

  • Site- or region-level electricity use and the period covered.
  • Matching interval and the grid boundary used to associate generation with consumption.
  • Clean generation and attribute-retirement or equivalent accounting evidence.
  • Full calculation methodology, including data gaps, estimates, and methodology version.
  • Independent assurance documentation, including its scope and limitations.

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