Carbon per Unit of Cloud Spend
Definition
Measure of carbon emissions (CO2e) per unit of cloud spend. Ideally, this measure would be drillable by scope and service categories, such as compute, storage, or networking. This metric helps organizations understand the environmental impact of cloud usage and make decisions to reduce their carbon footprint by choosing more efficient or renewable-energy-powered cloud services.
Formula, as published
CO2e/unit of currency = Effective Cost / CO2e
- Data sources:
- Carbon consumption data source, CSP Billing data, CSP FOCUS files
Calculate it
Example values to start with; replace them with yours.
Where this calculator differs: The published formula reads effective cost / CO2e, which is spend per kilogram; the KPI is named CO2e per unit of currency, so this calculator divides emissions by cost.
From the FinOps Foundation
More Sustainability KPIs
Definition and formula: Carbon per Unit of Cloud Spend, FinOps KPI library, FinOps Foundation, licensed CC BY 4.0, read 16 Oct 2026. Changed: HTML removed, dashes and British spellings changed, formula split from its data sources and examples. The calculator and the notes are Finitizer’s.
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