OxygenIT Wins 2025 API Award for Best in API Observability
Discover how Cloud Carbon APIs transform emissions tracking with real-time, accurate, and actionable insights for sustainable IT operations.
Cloud computing has become the invisible engine of modern business. From running AI models to hosting SaaS platforms, it powers innovation at an unprecedented scale. But this growth comes with a challenge that is harder to see: the carbon emissions generated by cloud infrastructures.
Data centers are responsible for a significant share of global electricity consumption, and their carbon footprint is rising as demand for compute power surges. Companies are under increasing pressure to measure, report, and reduce these emissions. Regulators demand transparency, investors want proof of action, and customers expect companies to take responsibility.
Measuring cloud emissions, however, is easier said than done. Provider dashboards are fragmented, methodologies inconsistent, and the data often arrives months too late. The result is a frustrating gap between what organizations need—clear, reliable, real-time carbon insights—and what they actually get.
This is exactly where Cloud Carbon APIs come into play.
On the surface, it might seem simple: cloud providers know how much energy they consume, so why not just give customers the numbers? The reality is much messier.
Each major provider—AWS, Azure, Google Cloud—calculates emissions differently. Some take into account the carbon intensity of the regional grid, others focus on renewable energy credits, and few are transparent about the assumptions behind their numbers. Even when data is available, it tends to be aggregated at a high level, such as per account or per region, rather than broken down into the specific workloads that IT teams need to analyze.
Then there’s the issue of timing. Many dashboards only update quarterly, which is far too slow for teams that need to align carbon decisions with day-to-day operations. By the time the data is available, the workloads may have already shifted, and the optimization opportunities are gone.
All of this leads to the same problem: businesses lack the ability to trust, compare, and act on cloud carbon data in a meaningful way.
A Cloud Carbon API is essentially a translator. It takes raw information about how you use the cloud—compute hours, storage capacity, data transfers—and converts it into standardized carbon metrics, usually expressed in kilograms of CO₂ equivalent.
Rather than forcing IT teams to log into multiple dashboards, export spreadsheets, and reconcile inconsistent numbers, an API makes the process seamless. The data flows directly from the cloud providers into whatever system the organization uses, whether that’s a monitoring dashboard, an ESG reporting tool, or even a custom FinOps platform.
The key distinction between a Cloud Carbon API and traditional sustainability software is automation. Instead of being an isolated tool, the API integrates into the existing IT and business stack, making carbon data part of everyday workflows rather than an afterthought.
At the heart of every Cloud Carbon API is a simple process: it ingests usage data and returns emissions data. But the real value lies in how it does this.
An API doesn’t just pull numbers from one source. It combines multiple layers of information. It starts with raw cloud consumption metrics—how many CPU hours were run, how much data was stored, how much bandwidth was used. Then it applies emission factors, which vary by region depending on the electricity grid’s mix of renewables and fossil fuels. Some APIs also enrich the data with historical trends and predictive models, allowing organizations to not only see where they stand today but also forecast the impact of future projects.
The output is much more detailed than what cloud provider dashboards usually offer. Instead of a single total for the whole account, an API can break down emissions by service, workload, or even specific business units. This level of granularity makes it possible to link technical decisions—such as where to run a workload or how to configure a cluster—directly to carbon outcomes.
The advantages of using a Cloud Carbon API become clear the moment an organization moves beyond spreadsheets. First, there’s consistency. By applying standardized methodologies, APIs make it possible to compare emissions across different providers on equal footing. That removes a huge source of confusion when running a multi-cloud environment.
Second, there’s speed. Instead of waiting weeks or months for updates, IT teams can access near real-time data. That means they can make decisions in sync with operations, whether it’s scaling up an AI training job or migrating workloads between regions.
Third, APIs integrate seamlessly into existing processes. A DevOps engineer can see emissions alongside performance metrics in Grafana, while the finance team can link them with cloud cost data in their FinOps platform. Sustainability stops being a separate, siloed function and becomes embedded into the everyday rhythm of IT management.
And finally, APIs prepare businesses for compliance. With regulations such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the upcoming SEC climate disclosure rules, the ability to generate accurate, auditable emissions data automatically is no longer a nice-to-have—it’s becoming a necessity.
Organizations are finding that Cloud Carbon APIs are not just about compliance reporting but about unlocking entirely new ways of managing IT.
In FinOps, for example, teams are used to balancing cost against performance. With a Cloud Carbon API feeding data into their existing dashboards, they can now introduce a third variable—carbon. Instead of choosing between “cheaper vs. faster,” they can evaluate “cheaper vs. faster vs. greener.” This opens the door to decisions like running batch workloads in regions with lower grid emissions, even if the compute cost is slightly higher, or consolidating underutilized resources to cut both expenses and CO₂.
ESG reporting is another area where APIs make a measurable difference. Sustainability officers often spend weeks collecting fragmented data from IT teams, reconciling inconsistencies, and formatting results for frameworks like CSRD, GRI, or CDP. With an API, this process becomes automated. The system continuously feeds verified emissions data into reporting tools, significantly reducing the workload and audit risks. Companies that previously published annual sustainability reports are now able to provide quarterly, even monthly, updates.
For cloud architects, APIs have become part of the design process. When planning infrastructure changes, they can model the carbon impact of different deployment strategies. For instance, shifting a Kubernetes cluster from Frankfurt to Stockholm doesn’t just affect latency and cost—it also reduces emissions due to the Nordic grid’s higher share of renewables. By running “what-if” scenarios, architects can align technical choices with corporate sustainability targets.
Developers and operations teams are also beginning to treat carbon as a first-class metric. By integrating API outputs into monitoring platforms like Grafana or Datadog, they can track emissions in real time alongside CPU usage, uptime, or memory allocation. This cultural shift—making carbon visible to engineers—helps embed sustainability directly into day-to-day IT operations.
Beyond IT, investor relations and customer communications are increasingly influenced by APIs. Businesses can provide stakeholders with transparent, auditable emissions data instead of vague estimates. For organizations bidding on contracts with sustainability criteria or reporting to climate-conscious investors, this transparency can be the differentiator that secures trust and competitive advantage.
Despite their potential, Cloud Carbon APIs still face several roadblocks that organizations need to be aware of.
The most fundamental challenge lies in data reliability. Cloud providers remain the source of much of the emissions data, and their methodologies are not always transparent. If AWS underestimates the carbon intensity of its electricity mix in a given region, any API using that data will inherit the error. While APIs improve accessibility and comparability, they can only be as accurate as the underlying inputs.
Another challenge is regional variability. Some countries, like the UK or Germany, publish detailed hourly carbon intensity data for their electricity grids. Others release only annual averages, if at all. This lack of granularity makes it harder for APIs to deliver precise, real-time insights globally. As more regions improve their grid transparency, APIs will become more accurate, but for now, coverage remains uneven.
The immaturity of the ecosystem is also a concern. There is no universally agreed standard for how cloud carbon should be measured or reported. Initiatives are underway—such as the Green Software Foundation’s SCI (Software Carbon Intensity) framework—but adoption is still limited. Until standards stabilize, different APIs may deliver slightly different results for the same workloads, creating confusion for enterprises trying to compare solutions.
Finally, there’s the human factor. Integrating emissions data into IT workflows requires cultural change. DevOps engineers are measured on uptime, performance, and cost savings; adding carbon efficiency to their KPIs demands a shift in mindset. Finance teams accustomed to purely monetary models must adapt to include environmental metrics. And sustainability officers, who often lack technical expertise, need to collaborate closely with IT. Without this cross-functional alignment, APIs risk becoming underutilized tools rather than engines of transformation.
Even with these hurdles, the direction of travel is unmistakable: Cloud Carbon APIs are set to become a core component of digital infrastructure management.
One of the most exciting frontiers is AI-driven optimization. Instead of simply reporting emissions, future APIs will actively recommend ways to reduce them. Imagine an API suggesting that a workload should be shifted two hours later to coincide with a surge in renewable energy, or flagging that a set of instances can be right-sized to cut both cost and CO₂. These intelligent recommendations will blur the line between reporting tools and optimization engines.
Another trend is deeper integration across multi-cloud and hybrid environments. Today, most APIs focus on the big three providers, but enterprises often run workloads across multiple clouds, private data centers, and edge infrastructure. APIs that can unify emissions data across this landscape will become invaluable for holistic IT management.
Regulation is also pushing adoption. As climate disclosure frameworks tighten, it’s increasingly likely that regulators will require emissions data to be machine-readable and standardized. APIs are the natural delivery vehicle for this, turning sustainability reporting into a continuous process rather than an annual chore.
Looking further ahead, Cloud Carbon APIs may evolve into general IT carbon APIs, covering not only cloud compute and storage but also SaaS platforms, hardware supply chains, and even employee device usage. They could form the backbone of enterprise-wide carbon accounting, linking IT operations directly with corporate climate goals.
Ultimately, the future of Cloud Carbon APIs is not just about tracking—it’s about empowering action. As they mature, APIs will help organizations shift from passive compliance to proactive sustainability, where every IT decision can be evaluated not just in terms of cost and performance, but also in its impact on the planet.
For years, cloud carbon reporting has been held back by delays, inconsistencies, and fragmented data. Cloud Carbon APIs mark a turning point. By delivering accurate, consistent, and real-time insights, they allow IT leaders to manage emissions with the same rigor as cost or performance.
The future of cloud sustainability will not be built on static, retrospective reports but on automated, integrated, and actionable data streams. This is the vision driving platforms like OxygenIT, which provide the APIs organizations need to make carbon transparency and optimization part of everyday IT decision-making.
Cloud Carbon APIs are no longer optional—they are becoming the foundation of sustainable, future-proof IT infrastructures.
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