Strategy #3: Purchased ICT services (cloud-based, internet, e-mail, or telecommunications)

Vendor Reports and Measuring Results

Once you have a contract in place where a service- or operations-based metric is provided, this can become the baseline.  If possible, ensure that periodic usage reports are required in the contract.  Reports should include service usage, dollars spent, and the carbon or GHG metric that you required in the RFP. 

With these data points, the carbon intensity (carbon per dollar spent on ICT services), as well as the total estimated carbon footprint, can be calculated. See the hypothetical example in the next section below.  If readers have additional approaches for assessing results, please share with the toolkit team to be added.

Examples and Case Studies

Hypothetical example of state ICT reduction using carbon per data unit: This is a hypothetical example of how a government could evaluate ICT services by using a basis of data purchased, the cost for the data, and the CO2e emissions per year. Standards and Metrics for Evaluating ICT Service Efficiency.pdf