How can AWS’ Sustainability Console Track Carbon Emissions?

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has introduced a new Sustainability console to provide customers with a unified way to access carbon emissions data and sustainability resources. 

This standalone service is designed to simplify how organisations measure, analyse and report the environmental impact of their cloud usage. 

By building on its existing Customer Carbon Footprint Tool, AWS aims to make sustainability data more accessible and actionable for dedicated teams. 

The launch reflects AWS’s broader commitment, aligned with its parent company’s Climate Pledge, to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040 while helping customers pursue their own sustainability goals.

Unified access to sustainability data

The AWS Sustainability console centralises emissions data and reporting tools into a single interface, removing the need to navigate across multiple services. 

Previously embedded within billing systems, sustainability data is now accessible independently, enabling dedicated sustainability teams to work without requiring billing-level permissions. 

This separation improves workflow efficiency and ensures the right stakeholders have access to relevant environmental data. 

As a result, organisations can more easily monitor their cloud-related emissions without unnecessary dependency on finance or billing teams.

“This launch raises the bar by removing a critical access barrier: our customers can now access carbon emissions data without needing billing permissions, while new API access, custom CSV reports, and fiscal year configuration match how teams actually work,” writes Alexis Bateman, Head of Global Sustainability at AWS, on LinkedIn.

“By solving real customer pain points and building the right foundation, we've created an environment where we can continue iterating and delivering bar-raising experiences that help customers measure and reduce their environmental impact of their cloud usage.”

Detailed emissions visibility

The console provides comprehensive insights into Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions associated with AWS usage.

Users can view emissions broken down by AWS Regions and services such as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, Amazon Simple Storage Service and Amazon CloudFront.

The platform presents data in both location-based and market-based methodologies, ensuring transparency and consistency with established carbon accounting standards.

This level of granularity allows organisations to identify emission hotspots and better understand which workloads contribute most to their environmental footprint.

Sustainability, procurement and supply chain leaders won’t want to miss Sustainability LIVE: The US Summit, taking place at Navy Pier, Chicago, on 21–22 April. 

Co-located with Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE, the event unites senior decision-makers at a time when supply chains, sustainability and business performance are more interdependent than ever.

Secure your place now for The US Summit – group booking discounts available.

Flexible reporting and customisation

To support increasingly complex reporting requirements, the console includes customisable reporting capabilities.

Users can generate preset monthly or annual reports or create tailored CSV exports by selecting specific fields, time ranges and filters.

Organisations can also align reporting periods with their fiscal calendar, ensuring that sustainability data integrates seamlessly with financial and operational reporting cycles.

These features help sustainability and finance teams collaborate more effectively while maintaining consistency in external disclosures.

AWS enables programmatic access to emissions data through APIs and SDKs, allowing organisations to integrate sustainability metrics directly into internal dashboards, reporting pipelines and compliance workflows.

This capability is particularly valuable for large-scale environments where automated data retrieval across multiple accounts is required. Combined with the visual console, these tools provide both interactive analysis and automation options.

AWS continues to evolve the Sustainability console with additional features, reinforcing its role as a long-term solution for tracking and managing cloud-related environmental impact.