Make AWS Carbon Footprints Smarter With Scope 3 Data

AWS just updated the Customer Carbon Footprint Tool (CCFT) to add Scope 3 estimates, covering upstream stuff like fuel and energy-related activities (FERA), IT hardware/capital goods, buildings and equipment, and transportation.

That closes a big reporting gap and lets you match cloud emissions with GHG Protocol inventories.

What you get

• Monthly estimates you can export to CSV and join with Cost Explorer/CUR
• Breakdowns by account, service, region, and time
• Stronger support for ESG audits and investor reporting

Practical steps

1) Ensure payer-account Billing access; export monthly CCFT CSVs to S3. 2) Build a pipeline: S3 -> Glue or Lambda -> Athena/warehouse -> BI. 3) Join CCFT with CUR tags to split by BU/product; version datasets. 4) Track intensity KPIs: kgCO2e per 1,000 sessions, per transaction, or per $ revenue. 5) Prioritize moves with double wins: rightsizing, instance modernization (e.g., Graviton), storage lifecycle policies, region choices where feasible.

Troubleshooting empty dashboards

• View from the payer/management account.
• Broaden the timeframe; new usage may appear after a monthly cycle.
• Reset strict filters; verify IAM Billing permissions.

Notes

• There is no public CCFT API today; automate via scheduled CSV exports.
• Treat CCFT as estimates aligned to GHG Protocol categories; keep a change log when factors or methods update.

References

• AWS CCFT overview:
• AWS Cost Explorer API:
• AWS CUR:
• GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard: