# What is AWS Sustainability?
Welcome to the AWS Sustainability user guide.
The AWS Sustainability service provides a suite of features to help you understand your environmental impact from using AWS services. The vast majority of accounts with AWS usage can see their environmental impact. If data isn't available for your account, your account may be too new to show data (data is published the month after the usage occurs) or your impact may be immaterial (under 0.5 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent).
**Topics**
+ [Features of AWS Sustainability](#sustainability-features)
+ [Calculation methodology](#calculation-methodology-overview)
+ [Related services](#related-services)
+ [Key concepts](key-concepts.md)
+ [Resources](resources.md)
## Features of AWS Sustainability
The AWS Sustainability service includes the following features:
+ **Carbon emissions** — Visualize your carbon emissions over time. Deep dive into your emissions by scope, AWS Region, service, and more.
+ **Reports** — Access your sustainability data in bulk. Create .csv reports to quickly see your data, integrate with the AWS Sustainability API, or create an ongoing data export (in [Data Exports](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cur/latest/userguide)).
+ **Release notes** — Learn about new features, methodology updates, bug fixes, and more.
## Calculation methodology
The calculation methodology behind all the figures shown in the AWS Sustainability service is explained in the [Calculation methodology](methodology.md) section of this user guide.
## Related services
AWS Organizations
If you're signed in as a management account of AWS Organizations, the AWS Sustainability service will report the consolidated environmental impact of all the member accounts within that management account, for the duration that those member accounts were a part of your organization.
If you're signed in as a member account, the AWS Sustainability service will report emission data for the member account only.
For more information, see the [AWS Organizations User Guide](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/organizations/latest/userguide/).
Data Exports
AWS Data Exports enables you to create billing and cost management data exports and carbon emissions data exports using basic SQL, and visualize data by integrating with Amazon QuickSight.
For more information, see [What is AWS Data Exports?](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cur/latest/userguide/what-is-data-exports.html)
# Key concepts
Described below are the key concepts and terms that apply to all visualizations within the AWS Sustainability console and the corresponding API.
**Unit of measure**
The unit of measurement for carbon emissions is metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent (MTCO2e), an industry-standard measure. This measurement considers multiple greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. All greenhouse gas emissions are converted to MTCO2e using their respective Global Warming Potential (GWP) values as defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This standardized approach enables organizations to express the climate impact of various greenhouse gases in a single, comparable unit.
**Publishing timing**
Carbon emissions data is available back to January 2022, though we limit how many records are displayed in the **Carbon emissions** page to maintain legibility of the data (the full historical dataset can be accessed via API or Data Exports). New data is published monthly by the 21st of the month following the usage (e.g. January data is published by February 21st).
**Data resolution**
The AWS Sustainability service shows your carbon footprint at the 0.000001 MTCO2e (1 gram CO2e) resolution. If your emissions are lower than 0.0000005 MTCO2e (0.5 gMTCO2e) in the reporting month, it will appear as `0`.
**AWS Region**
AWS services are hosted in multiple locations world-wide. These locations are composed of AWS Regions, Availability Zones, Local Zones, and Wavelength Zones. Each Region is a separate geographic area. The AWS Sustainability service shows the environmental impact associated with each applicable AWS Region. For example, `US East (Ohio)`, `Europe (London)`. Emissions from global services, such as Amazon CloudFront, are reported under `Global`.
**Services**
AWS offers a broad set of services including compute, storage, databases, analytics, networking, mobile, developer tools, management tools, IoT, security, and enterprise applications. The AWS Sustainability service metrics include impact from all AWS Services. Currently, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), and Amazon CloudFront are broken out in the AWS Sustainability console, while all other products are displayed as **Other**.
**Fiscal year**
By default, the AWS Sustainability service uses calendar year (January to December) for quarter and year aggregations. You can customize your own fiscal year if it differs from calendar year, for example, March to February. The label for this field corresponds to the year of the ending month. For example, a fiscal year that runs from March 2025 to February 2026 will be shown as FY 2026. Fiscal quarters are calculated from the fiscal year starting month. For example, for a fiscal year that runs from March 2025 to February 2026, Q1 will be March, April, and May 2025.
**Methodology version**
The environmental data presented in the AWS Sustainability service reflects the most recent methodology version available for a given month. When AWS releases a new version of the methodology, the release notes page is updated with information about the changes and historical data is recalculated using the updated version to ensure accurate comparisons over time. If you want to keep data calculated using previous versions of the methodology we recommend creating a [Data Export](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cur/latest/userguide/what-is-data-exports.html), which exports your carbon data to Amazon S3. When a new version is released it has its own prefix and previous versions remain available.
**AWS Organizations**
If you're signed in as a management account of AWS Organizations, the AWS Sustainability service will report the consolidated environmental impact of all the member accounts within that management account, for the duration that those member accounts were a part of your organization. The field **usage account** shows the breakdown of each account with usage within the management account, so you can understand where your environmental impact comes from.
If you're signed in as a member account, the AWS Sustainability service will report emission data for the member account only.
# Resources
This page compiles a non-exhaustive list of sustainability resources that may be helpful as you embark on your sustainability journey.
## Carbon accounting
+ Standards informing the data in the AWS Sustainability service
+ [GHG Protocol](https://ghgprotocol.org/) and its underlying standard [ISO 14064](https://www.iso.org/standard/66453.html): Explore the globally recognized framework for measuring and managing greenhouse gas emissions that forms the basis of corporate carbon accounting.
+ [GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/product-standard/) and associated [Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector guidance](https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/2023-03/GHGP-ICTSG%20-%20ALL%20Chapters.pdf): Access comprehensive guidance on calculating product-level emissions throughout their lifecycle, with specific considerations for technology products and services.
+ [ISO 14040](https://www.iso.org/standard/37456.html) and [ISO 14044](https://www.iso.org/standard/38498.html) for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): Review the international standards that establish principles and frameworks for conducting thorough environmental life cycle assessments.
+ [GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance](https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/2023-03/Scope%202%20Guidance.pdf): Understand how to account for indirect emissions from purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling in your carbon footprint calculations and the differences between location-based and market-based emissions.
+ [AWS customer carbon footprint methodology](https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/aws-customer-carbon-footprint-methodology.pdf): Discover how AWS calculates and reports the carbon footprint associated with your cloud usage, including the specific assumptions and data sources used.
+ [AWS customer carbon footprint methodology assurance letter](https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/aws-customer-carbon-footprint-methodology-assurance.pdf): View the independent third-party verification letter that validates the accuracy and reliability of AWS's carbon footprint calculation approach.
## Sustainability on AWS
+ [Sustainable cloud computing on AWS](https://aws.amazon.com/sustainability/?icmpid=docs_sustainability_resources_sustainable-cloud-computing): Explore how AWS's cloud infrastructure helps organizations reduce their environmental impact while maintaining performance and innovation.
+ [AWS Sustainability service product page](https://aws.amazon.com/aws-sustainability-console/?icmpid=docs_sustainability_resources_product-page): Get an overview of the AWS Sustainability service and its key benefits.
+ [Sustainability Pillar - AWS Well-Architected Framework](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/wellarchitected/latest/sustainability-pillar/sustainability-pillar.html?icmpid=docs_sustainability_resources_sustainability-pillar): Learn best practices for designing and operating cloud workloads that minimize environmental impact while meeting business requirements.
## Amazon's sustainability goals and programs
+ [AWS Cloud sustainability](https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/products-services/aws-cloud?icmpid=docs_sustainability_resources_aws-cloud-sustainability): Discover AWS's commitment to sustainable operations, including renewable energy initiatives and efficiency improvements across data centers.
+ [Amazon sustainability](https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/?icmpid=docs_sustainability_resources_amazon-sustainability): Learn about Amazon's broader environmental goals, including the path to net-zero carbon and investments in renewable energy and circular economy initiatives.
+ [The Climate Pledge](https://www.theclimatepledge.com?icmpid=docs_sustainability_resources_climate-pledge): Learn about the commitment co-founded by Amazon to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement.
+ [Amazon's sustainability exchange](https://sustainabilityexchange.amazon.com/?icmpid=docs_sustainability_resources_sustainability-exchange): Access Amazon's platform for sharing sustainability insights, best practices, and collaborative solutions across the business community.
+ [Amazon's carbon credit service](https://sustainabilityexchange.amazon.com/credits?icmpid=docs_sustainability_resources_carbon-credit-service): Explore how Amazon helps organizations invest in verified carbon removal and reduction projects to offset their remaining emissions.