Back to Technology & Communications

Audit-Ready Carbon Reporting for Software and IT Services

Track data center infrastructure, office energy, employee footprint, and customer cloud emissions for software and services operations.

Book Demo Start Free Trial

The Industry Hotspot: Data Center Infrastructure and Employee Operations

Data centers and employees dominate

Software company emissions concentrate in cloud infrastructure and employee operations. Companies hosting applications use data center capacity consuming electricity for compute, storage, and networking. Office facilities house development and support teams. Employee commuting and business travel add operational footprint. Remote work shifts emissions from offices to distributed home energy. Customer cloud workloads require allocation methodology. NetNada tracks data center energy consumption, monitors office and employee footprint, calculates customer cloud allocation, and reports SaaS carbon intensity.

SASB Industry Definition

The Software & IT Services industry develops software applications, provides cloud computing services, IT consulting, and outsourced technology services. Operations include data centers for cloud hosting, office facilities for development teams, and distributed workforce. Emissions concentrate in data center electricity and employee operations with customer cloud allocation creating Scope 3 complexity.

View SASB Standard →

Industry-Specific Carbon Accounting

No generic solutions. Metrics, data sources, and reporting aligned to Software & IT Services operations.

Cloud Infrastructure Emissions

Software hosted on cloud platforms creates Scope 3 emissions from data center electricity. Owned data centers become Scope 2. Track cloud resource consumption and provider emissions. Optimize application efficiency reducing compute requirements. Select cloud regions with renewable energy. Report infrastructure carbon intensity per user or transaction.

Cloud emissions tracked

Office Facility Energy

Development and support teams work from offices consuming electricity for HVAC, lighting, and equipment. Office size and efficiency affect energy intensity. Track office energy per employee or square meter. Implement energy efficiency measures. Procure renewable electricity for facilities.

Office energy per employee

Employee Commuting and Travel

Employee commuting to offices and business travel generate transportation emissions. Remote work reduces commuting but adds home energy. Survey employees on commute modes and distances. Track business travel miles by mode. Calculate employee footprint per capita. Promote transit, remote work, and travel alternatives.

Employee emissions per capita

Application Efficiency Optimization

Efficient code and architecture reduce compute resources per user. Query optimization, caching, and workload scheduling lower infrastructure requirements. Track application resource consumption metrics. Implement efficiency improvements reducing carbon per transaction. Report infrastructure efficiency trends.

Resource per transaction

Customer Carbon Reporting

SaaS customers require emissions data for Scope 3 reporting. Allocation assigns infrastructure emissions proportionally to customer usage. Track customer resource consumption. Calculate customer-specific emissions. Provide carbon reporting dashboards and APIs.

Customer emissions calculated

SASB TC-SI Metrics Automation

Auto-generate disclosure including Scope 1 and 2 emissions, data center energy, employee footprint, percentage renewable energy, and product carbon intensity. Footnotes cite employee count and customer base.

SASB TC-SI compliant

Product Features for Software & IT Services

Use Carbon Data Uploader to import office utility bills, cloud usage data, employee surveys, and customer metrics for software company emissions. Learn more →

The Activity Calculator applies factors for electricity, cloud infrastructure, travel, and commuting—calculating software operations carbon footprints. Learn more →

Related Solutions

See our Carbon Accounting solution for software company emissions tracking from infrastructure through employee operations and customer allocation.

View solution

Software & IT Services Case Studies

How entities in this industry use NetNada to solve carbon accounting challenges.

SaaS Company (Cloud-hosted applications, Global customer base, Distributed workforce)

Challenge

Enterprise customers required SaaS carbon footprints for Scope 3 reporting. Cloud infrastructure emissions needed quantification and allocation. Distributed workforce created employee footprint complexity. Renewable energy procurement required across cloud and offices.

Solution

Tracked cloud resource consumption from hosting provider. Calculated infrastructure emissions per customer based on usage. Surveyed employees on commuting and remote work patterns. Implemented renewable energy matching for offices and influenced cloud provider renewable adoption.

Result

Generated customer-specific SaaS carbon footprints supporting enterprise Scope 3 reporting. Optimized application efficiency reducing cloud resource requirements per user. Demonstrated carbon-neutral operations through renewable energy matching. Provided customer carbon dashboards as product differentiator.

SASB Disclosure Topics for Software & IT Services

Material sustainability topics beyond emissions that investors and stakeholders expect disclosed per SASB standards.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

environment

Track Scope 1 from backup generators and fleet. Report Scope 2 from data center and office electricity. Calculate Scope 3 from employee commuting, travel, and cloud infrastructure. Report emissions per revenue or per customer.

Data Center and Cloud Infrastructure

environment

Monitor data center energy for owned facilities or cloud provider emissions. Track infrastructure efficiency and utilization. Report renewable energy matching.

Employee Footprint

environment

Calculate employee commuting and business travel emissions. Track remote work percentage and home office energy. Report per-employee footprint metrics.

Product Carbon Intensity

business model

Calculate SaaS application carbon footprint per user or transaction. Report infrastructure efficiency improvements. Disclose customer carbon reporting tools.

Renewable Energy

environment

Track renewable energy procurement for offices and data centers. Monitor cloud provider renewable energy percentage. Report overall renewable energy mix.

Customer Enablement

business model

Disclose software enabling customer emission reductions. Report avoided emissions from digital transformation. Track sustainability product features.

NetNada tracks all SASB material topics, not just emissions. Our platform supports disclosure across environmental, social, governance, and business model topics relevant to your industry.

Software & IT Services FAQs

Common questions about carbon accounting for this industry

How do software companies calculate cloud infrastructure emissions?
Software hosted on third-party cloud is Scope 3. Track resource consumption (compute hours, storage, network). Multiply by cloud provider emission factors accounting for PUE and grid intensity. Cloud providers publish factors and customer carbon tools.
Should software companies report employee footprint?
Employee commuting and business travel are Scope 3 Categories 7 and 6. For software companies with distributed workforce, employee footprint can be material. Survey employees on commute patterns. Track travel booking data. Calculate and report employee per-capita emissions.

Track Software Infrastructure, Employee Footprint, and Customer Cloud Emissions

See how software companies monitor cloud infrastructure, calculate employee emissions, and generate SASB-aligned disclosures—automated from operations data.

Book a Demo Start Free Trial