Towards a production-related Carbon Footprint of IT-services (CFIS)

For manufacturers of consumer products the Carbon Footprint of Products (CFP) has emerged as an approach to quantify the environmental impact resulting from product-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions expressed as carbon dioxide (CO₂) equivalents. GHGs are emitted throughout all stages of the product life cycle. This paper conceptualizes a production-related Carbon Footprint of IT-Services (CFIS), which focusses only on CO₂ emissions induced by the energy consumption of ICT resources operated in data centers. In order to set the scope of the production-related CFIS, we propose an approach that combines IT-Service lifecycle known from ITILv3 and product lifecycles of ICT resources. Within described limitations, parameters and measurement approaches to assess energy consumption of ICT resources are presented as a condition for a cause-fair allocation of consumed energy to IT-Services.