Counting the Past: How Cloudflare Is Tackling Pre-2018 Network Emissions

The infrastructure that powers the internet was not always built with sustainability in mind. Cloudflare has already committed to matching its current energy use with renewables, but a significant question remained: what about the emissions from its network's early years? In 2021, the company pledged to offset those historical emissions. After a company-wide review of its records, Cloudflare calculated that its network generated roughly 31,284 metric tons of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) since its founding and before its first renewable energy purchase in 2018.

The first step in meeting that pledge is an investment in 6,060 metric tons of carbon offsets through the Pacajai REDD+ Project in Para, Brazil, purchased via partner 3Degress. This project, verified by Verra, focuses on halting deforestation and preserving local ecosystems by training riverine communities in sustainable forest management and agroforestry techniques. The goal is to reduce the need for slash-and-burn agriculture, which contributes to the ~13 percent of global emissions from land use change. REDD+ projects, recognized under the Paris Agreement, aim to place a financial value on stored carbon to incentivize keeping forests intact.

Offsets vs. Renewables: Choosing the Right Tool

Cloudflare's primary annual sustainability mechanism is matching its global electricity consumption with renewable energy purchases. This ensures its yearly market-based Scope 2 emissions are zero. However, this does not address the power used to run the network between its inception and the first renewable credit purchase in 2018.

For those historical emissions, the company opted against renewable energy certificates (RECs) in favor of carbon offsets and removals. There are two key technical differences that drove this decision.

  • Vintage constraints: RECs are tied to the specific year the power was generated. Most standards require that the credit vintage match the energy being offset. Sourcing RECs from 2012 or 2013 is effectively impossible.
  • Scope of application: While RECs only apply to purchased electricity (Scope 2), carbon offsets can compensate for direct emissions (Scope 1), electricity (Scope 2), and even supply chain emissions (Scope 3).

The flexibility of offsets also allows Cloudflare to support a wider range of projects, from reforestation to methane capture, that align with other sustainable development goals beyond carbon reduction.

Calculating the First Bytes

To determine the total historical impact, Cloudflare’s Infrastructure team conducted a detailed review of asset records to establish an annual profile of server deployments, models, configurations, and total energy consumption. This data was cross-checked against public statements and blog posts charting the network’s expansion from 3 data centers in 2010 to over 275 cities today.

The resulting annual energy totals were converted into emissions figures using a global average emissions factor from the International Energy Agency (IEA). With total power consumption as the basis, the network emitted 31,284 MTs of CO2e prior to 2018. The recent purchase mitigates 6,060 MTs, leaving a balance of 25,224 MTs to address by the 2025 target.

A First Look at Scope 3

With Scope 1 and Scope 2 reporting now established, Cloudflare is shifting focus to the broader supply chain impacts defined as Scope 3. While reporting remains optional under the GHG Protocol, the company has begun an internal assessment of these emissions sources.

The initial focus remains on the network, examining the embodied carbon in purchased hardware, the logistics of shipping equipment globally, and responsible decommissioning processes. Quantifying these factors is a stated objective for 2023, with the company planning to share more details in the coming months.