FAQ for IBM Cloud Carbon calculator

Why can't I see my emissions data?

You might not be able to view your accounts emissions data because you don't have the correct access or the service doesn't have enough data. For access, account owners, account administrators, and users with a viewer role or higher on the billing service can view and export emissions data for the entire account. Supported services must have at least 30 days of data to be viewed on the carbon calculator.

If you're still having issues to view data, create a support case in the IBM Cloud Support Center.

How do you calculate the emissions?

The total emissions are calculated by comparing the energy-related usage with data center energy sources. Emissions from key greenhouse gases are measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent (kgCO₂e). You can download the total emissions data in CSV format. View the total emissions widget on the Carbon Calculator page in the console.

Can I view emissions for all services on my account?

Emissions data is currently tracked for a subset of services, but more services are under consideration to be added. Emission data is currently available for the following services:

• Analytics Engine
• App Configuration
• Application Load Balancer
• Bare Metal Servers for VPC
• Bare Metal Servers for Classic
• Block Storage for Classic
• Block Storage for VPC
• Cloud HSM
• Cloud Object Storage
• Cloudant
• Container Registry
• Continuous Delivery
• Data Engine (previously SQL Query)
• Databases for Elasticsearch
• Databases for EnterpriseDB
• Databases for etcd
• Databases for MongoDB
• Databases for MySQL
• Databases for PostgreSQL
• Databases for Redis
• DataStage
• Db2 Warehouse
• DNS Services
• Event Notifications
• Event Streams
• File Storage for Classic
• File Storage for VPC
• Fortigate Security Appliance 10 Gbps
• Gateway Appliance
• IBM Cloud Monitoring
• Key Protect
• Kubernetes Service
• Load Balancer for Classic
• Messages for RabbitMQ
• MQ
• Network Load Balancer
• Power Virtual Server
• SAP on Classic Infrastructure
• SAP on VMware
• Satellite
• Secrets Manager
• Compliance Manager
• IBM Cloud Security and Compliance Center Workload Protection
• VMware Solutions
• VPN for VPC
• Virtual Servers for Classic
• Virtual Server for VPC

Because emissions are reported after the close of each billing cycle, data for newly added services and current quarter results take about two months to populate.

How do I use this data with Envizi or other third party ESG reporting tools?

IBM Envizi is a robust data management foundation that is designed to create a single, trusted data source for all your ESG reporting and opportunity identification. Use ESG reporting to meet compliance and reporting requirements. For more information, see IBM Envizi ESG Suite.

Envizi integration currently requires creation of a custom connector. Reach out to your IBM Cloud representative for more information.

How do I submit feedback on Carbon Calculator?

Talk to your customer success manager (CSM) or create case on support center. When you open a support case, choose billing and usage topics and subtopics, but specify carbon calculator in the case description.

How do I view the carbon emissions factor of my data center?

In the carbon calculator, on the locations widget, you can hover over the location of their data center to see the carbon emissions factor. For more information, see Working with IBM Cloud carbon calculator.

How is greenhouse gas (GHG) measured?

IBM Cloud plays a critical role in for achieving IBM’s energy conservation, renewable electricity procurement, and GHG emissions reduction targets. IBM Cloud is improving the estimation approach by introducing the carbon calculator, which gives you a detailed view of your cloud electricity consumption and associated GHG emissions. For more information, see IBM Cloud carbon calculator methodology.

What methodology does IBM Cloud carbon calculator use?

IBM Cloud carbon calculator uses data from electricity consumption, measurement of the usage of server resources, server and process lifecycle events, and service usage data. Based on the data, it estimates the electricity consumption and GHG emission from each account and service offerings, according to the location, time period, and resource groups. For more information, see IBM Cloud carbon calculator methodology.

Who can view the carbon calculator data?

Account owners, account administrators, and users with a viewer role or higher on the billing service can view and export emissions data for the entire account. An account or billing administrator role is required to grant other users access to the Billing service. For more information about assigning access, see Billing.

How to view the Power Virtual Server data on carbon calculator?

On the Carbon calculator interface, from the Filter by service list, select the Power Virtual Server option.

Where can I find Power Virtual Server?

To find more details about Power Virtual Server, see Using carbon calculator on Power Virtual Server.

Why is the data for my workspace not displayed in the carbon calculator?

Only data from Power10 or later workspaces is used to calculate the carbon emissions. If your workspace is on Power9 or previous versions, the data is not displayed on the carbon calculator.

Why am I not able to see the data for my workspace in the carbon calculator?

If your workspace is on Power9 or previous versions, the data is not displayed on the carbon calculator. Also, you must have the permissions or roles to view the data on the carbon calculator. For more information about assigning access, see Billing.

How do I to track GHG emissions for my account in the carbon calculator?

To view emissions data for your account, you must be assigned the viewer or higher role on the billing service to view and export the emissions data for the entire account. For more information, see Account tracking emissions with carbon calculator.

How do I to extract GHG emissions data through API?

For extracting emissions data through API, see Carbon calculator API.