A Fight Over Big Tech’s Emissions Has the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Caught in the Crossfire
Last week’s request Public comments on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP) do not appear to the naked eye to be a major victory for a tech giant. In fact, it seems almost clerical. But for Google and Microsoft, the announcement represents a considerable victory in their years-long battle with rivals over how to account for carbon emissions from data centers and, by extension, AI.
The announcement shows that the GHGP is a step closer to implementing a mandatory hourly accounting method for electricity emissions – a carbon accounting system that Google and Microsoft have been pushing for since 2020 and 2021 respectively.
“We support the proposed updates to Scope 2, which would increase the accuracy and decarbonization impact of carbon inventories,” Google spokesperson Mara Harris said. Microsoft declined to comment.
While Google celebrates the GHGP decision, others in the emissions space, even those traditionally aligned with Google’s preferred carbon accounting methodology, note that the struggle to get there hasn’t been a pretty one.
“There’s an intensive lobbying effort going on here, where these big companies have each invested considerable reputation and money, and they’re getting a little ugly,” says Jesse Jenkins, an associate professor at Princeton University and director of the Google-funded ZERO (Zero-Carbon Energy Systems Research and Optimization) Lab.
Out of reach
Scope 2 is a subcategory used by the GHGP to take into account a company’s indirect emissions from the purchase of electricity, steam, heat or cooling. For tech giants, Scope 2 emissions have increased as AI has driven massive growth in data center energy consumption. As these burdens have increased, so has the pressure to find a new way to accommodate them.
GHGP announced plans to revise its Scope 2 accounting standards in late 2022, ultimately accepting a $9.25 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund. Suddenly, the battle between the tech giants has extended from white papers to the real world, with a GHGP-sponsored “working group” to hammer out the details of what the new standards should be.
Some, however, thought it was never a fair fight.
“Our understanding was that we would have an arena for ideas to exchange. [from the beginning] where this was going to go was pretty well planned out,” says a working group member and proponent of an alternative form of Scope 2 accounting, known as “emissions first,” who was granted anonymity to speak candidly.
