To evaluate a data center’s energy mix and carbon footprint, separate the electricity physically serving the facility from the renewable-energy contracts or certificates used to support emissions claims. Compare location-based and market-based emissions for the same site or service, reporting period, and load boundary; then check the emissions factors, procurement timing and location, and allocation method behind the numbers. PUE can show energy efficiency, but it is not a carbon score.
Start by defining what the claim covers
A figure for one facility is not interchangeable with a figure for a cloud region, an operator’s entire fleet, or a customer’s allocated share of a cloud service. Before comparing providers, establish the subject, reporting year, and boundary. Ask whether the reported electricity covers purchased power, onsite generation, or both, and what load is included.
For a cloud service, request the allocation method as well as the underlying facility information. The ICT sector guidance describes an allocation relationship using rack-metered cloud energy, PUE, and an emissions factor. Without those inputs and the method used to assign them, a customer-level figure may be difficult to compare with another provider’s.
Separate physical electricity from contractual claims
The physical mix describes the generation supplying electricity to the facility through onsite generation and the relevant local electricity system. The contractual mix describes instruments an operator uses for procurement or emissions accounting, such as power purchase agreements (PPAs), renewable-energy certificates, utility products, or other arrangements. These are related but different claims: a contract or certificate does not by itself show which generators supplied electricity in each hour.
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The International Energy Agency’s 2025 global estimate is based on the fuel mix physically consumed by data centers, rather than the individual operators’ contract portfolios. It estimates that renewables supplied about 27% of that electricity, coal about 30%, natural gas 26%, and nuclear 15%. These are sector-wide estimates, not a proxy for any particular facility or provider.
Compare location-based and market-based emissions on like terms
Ask for both location-based and market-based Scope 2 electricity emissions, with units, reporting period, load boundary, emissions-factor source, and treatment of unmatched electricity. The location-based result reflects the electricity system serving the load. The market-based result reflects qualifying contractual instruments under the accounting method used. A low market-based figure can therefore coexist with a more carbon-intensive physical grid mix.
| Measure | What it helps you assess | What to request |
|---|---|---|
| Physical electricity mix | The generation serving the facility or relevant grid region, including onsite generation where applicable. | Facility or grid boundary, reporting period, and generation-mix data. |
| Location-based Scope 2 | Electricity emissions associated with the grid serving the load. | Load boundary, units, factor source, period, and any grid-region assumptions. |
| Market-based Scope 2 | Electricity emissions calculated using contractual procurement attributes under the stated method. | Instruments used, their market boundary and period, unmatched-load treatment, and factor source. |
As one provider-specific example, Google Cloud says its location-based calculations use hourly emissions factors, while its market-based reporting reflects previous-year procurement rather than a dynamic hourly view. Treat that as an example of a methodology to inspect, not as a universal accounting rule or a substitute for asking another provider how it calculates its figures.
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Check when and where clean electricity is matched
Ask what share of electricity use is matched annually, monthly, or hourly, and whether the generation is in the same relevant market or deliverable to the load. Annual matching can balance a year’s consumption against clean-energy attributes without showing that clean generation was available during the hours the data center consumed electricity. Hourly matching makes those timing gaps more visible; location also matters because a clean-energy purchase in a distant market may not correspond to supply serving the facility.
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Also ask whether procurement is intended to support new generation, rather than only acquire attributes from existing supply. Additionality is one useful comparison axis, but no single procurement approach is established as best for every grid or buyer. System-wide effects matter alongside a provider’s accounting claim.
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Use PUE as an efficiency measure, not a carbon rating
Power usage effectiveness (PUE) describes the relationship between a facility’s total energy use and the energy used by its IT equipment; it helps indicate how much facility energy goes to overhead such as cooling and power delivery. It does not state how carbon-intensive the electricity is. Two facilities with the same PUE can have different emissions if their electricity emissions factors differ.
For a cloud-service allocation, inspect the metered IT energy, PUE, and emissions factor together. A PUE figure alone cannot tell you the service’s allocated emissions or whether the electricity was matched to clean generation at the time and place of use.
Use sector statistics as context, not as a site estimate
The IEA’s 2025 analysis estimates that data centers used 460 TWh of electricity globally in 2024. It projects more than 1,000 TWh in 2030 and 1,300 TWh in 2035 in its Base Case. The 2024 figure is an estimate; the later figures are projections, not observed consumption. They describe the sector’s scale, not the footprint of a particular operator, facility, or cloud service.
A practical disclosure checklist
- Boundary: Is the claim for a facility, region, fleet, or allocated cloud service? Which electricity loads, onsite generation, and reporting year are included?
- Physical supply: What generation mix serves the facility or relevant grid region, separately from the operator’s contracts?
- Emissions results: Are location-based and market-based Scope 2 results both available, with units, load data, factor sources, and unmatched-load treatment?
- Procurement: Which PPAs, certificates, utility products, or other instruments support the market-based claim? What are their market and time boundaries?
- Matching: Is load matched annually, monthly, or hourly, and how closely does the generation location correspond to the consuming facility?
- Allocation and efficiency: For cloud services, how are rack-metered energy, PUE, and emissions factors used to allocate emissions?
- Comparability: Are the figures from the same period and boundary, using sufficiently clear methods to compare them with another provider’s?
GHG Protocol materials discuss contractual-instrument quality and proposed time- and location-based criteria. The proposals should not be presented as final requirements; ask providers which accounting rules and versions they actually apply.
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