The Governing Body of the iMasons Climate Accord, comprising AWS, Digital Realty, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Schneider Electric, is urging all suppliers serving data centres to support greater transparency in Scope 3 emissions. The Body has released an open letter advocating for the widespread adoption of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), which are standardised, third-party-verified documents reporting the embedded emissions of a product.

EPDs detail the greenhouse gas emissions of a product throughout its entire lifecycle, including raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, product use, and product end-of-life. While EPDs are common in some business sectors, they are not widely adopted in the data centre industry.

The signatories of the iMasons Governing Body's open letter all have net-zero carbon emissions commitments in place to address their responsibility in mitigating data centre carbon emissions, with deadlines ranging from 2025 to 2040. Scope 3 emissions, which can represent anywhere from 38-69% of data centres' total carbon footprint, are not produced by the company itself; they include the indirect emissions throughout the value chain.

Access to the critical information in EPDs empowers data centre owners, operators, and end-users to effectively calculate their environmental impact and choose products and services based on lower Scope 3 emissions.

Miranda Gardiner, Executive Director of the iMasons Climate Accord, stated, "EPDs are crucial in transforming the future of digital infrastructure to be more resilient and climate positive. The adoption of EPDs within the global supply chain fosters both sustainable and accountable outcomes. As standardised and verified data provides a layer of transparency, this initiative supports a collective approach to reducing our carbon emissions and environmental footprints."

The iMasons Climate Accord is a coalition of over 250 members that represents a combined market cap of $8 trillion.