Differences between Cloud Carbon Footprint and GCP's built-in carbon BigQuery export

[Adam Gaudry]

Hi

Really pleased to join the group and excited about the potential for this tool.

I am currently using: 

a) The BigQuery Carbon Data export provided by Google as part of its GCP toolset

b) Cloud Carbon Footprint connected to the billing reports as laid out in the documentation

I can see all the accounts that I'd expect in Cloud Carbon Footprint, but I have noticed that the estimation is quite a lot lower than GCP's own estimates. Sometimes maybe about half the size in terms of CO2Kg. 

I've read through documentation for the CCF, and have searched here, but is there a good place that compares the methodology for the 2 reports?

Also, is it possible that in the future, the Cloud Carbon Footprint tool will consider optionally using the carbon emissions report in place of the billing report for GCP?

Best wishes.

[Cloud Carbon Footprint]

Hello,

Thanks for using our tool and welcome to the group!

In regards to some of the number discrepancies, there are differences between Google's methodology and their level of access to data vs our methodology and use of publicly accessible data that contribute to this. We welcome anyone in the community to share their personal comparisons/experiences across the different tools!

 Our team is currently in the process of assessing the particular overlaps and differences between our Cloud Carbon Footprint tool and the tools provided by each cloud provider. It will be a bit of time still before we publish our analysis (stay tuned here in the discussion group), but in the meantime, some initial differences regarding our calculations:

• The cloud provider tools are able to use actual energy data that the Cloud Carbon Footprint tool does not have access to.
• Cloud Carbon Footprint has an open and fully published methodology that is constantly improved and iterated on based on community experts. The same methodology is applied to each cloud provider usage, allowing for a real comparison.
  
• Cloud Carbon Footprint methodology takes into consideration embodied emissions.
• Cloud Carbon Footprint provides carbon and energy data that is updated as often as cloud billing data is updated (usually daily or hourly).

We do imagine our tool being used in combination with the native cloud provider tools to provide a more holistic view of your footprint. To aid with this, we actually do have a planned feature that will allow for support of enabling cloud provider data (e.g. GCP) to be displayed in the tool. You can view the plans for that feature here, and feel free to add any comments or questions to that ticket: https://github.com/cloud-carbon-footprint/cloud-carbon-footprint/issues/725

Best,

The Cloud Carbon Footprint Team at Thoughtworks

[Adam Gaudry]

Thanks very much for your reply! That really helps me put the results that I'm getting in context.

[Adrian Cockcroft]

There are some more fundamental differences across the clouds and CCF.

Google is using the "location" method, which helps them towards their 24x7 goal, but the rules don't let you include the power purchased in the local market, so the numbers are higher, and they don't include scope 1 (mostly diesel for generators) and scope 3 (embodied carbon in the hardware). Amazon uses the "market" method, which means that their PPAs offset most of their scope 2, and they also include scope 1, but not scope 3. Microsoft report scope 1, 2 and 3 using the market method. So none of these are comparable, and CCF doesn't know what the PPAs are for each cloud, so it's different as well. Give it a few years, and this will likely be sorted out, but for now, I'd use CCF to run a carbon tuning exercise and not worry about the absolute numbers, and just use the cloud vendor data to report your corporate footprint.

Adrian

_{The contents of this message and any attachments to it are private, confidential and may be the subject of legal privilege. Telegraph Media Group Limited is registered in England and Wales (company number 451593) at 111 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 0DT. If you are not the intended recipient of this email please inform us and the sender immediately. You must not take any action based upon the contents of this email, nor copy it or show it to anyone. Any unauthorised disclosure, use or dissemination of the whole or part of the message contained in such email is prohibited. Any views or opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of Telegraph Media Group Limited. It is the recipient’s responsibility to carry out any virus checking.}

--
We're excited to hear from you and hope you're enjoying Cloud Carbon Footprint.
Please fill out our feedback form: https://forms.gle/nFzkRioryy4R1DGB6
Add your name to ADOPTERS.md: https://github.com/cloud-carbon-footprint/cloud-carbon-footprint/blob/trunk/ADOPTERS.md
Give us a star on the github if you're enjoying the tool!
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "Cloud Carbon Footprint" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/cloud-carbon-footprint/tTnDTV0_37U/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to cloud-carbon-foot...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cloud-carbon-footprint/63b0db5b-7da4-4b08-a413-5381eb46320an%40googlegroups.com.