Azure Carbon Optimization

Overview

Carbon optimization is Microsoft's tool for measuring and minimising the carbon impact of an Azure footprint. It tracks emissions at resource and resource-group level for the past 12 months across all Azure services, shows billing-account-level emissions for central sustainability and cloud governance teams, and lets users filter by subscription, resource group, resource, resource type and location. Access is controlled through role-based access control, including a Carbon Optimization Reader role for teams that only need to view emissions. Emissions data can be exported to CSV or pulled through REST APIs, carbon reduction recommendations suggest more efficient SKUs or shutting down idle resources with estimated carbon savings and cost impacts, and data is updated monthly with a 12-month retention period.

Editorial verdict

Fits Azure customers that want the provider's own emissions figures attributed down to subscriptions, resource groups and resources, with a reader role for teams that only need to view and CSV or REST export into sustainability reporting. The trade-off is scope and refresh: it reports Azure usage only, data is monthly with a 12-month retention window, and it works by pointing at idle or over-provisioned resources rather than benchmarking or forecasting. Multicloud estates need a second source. It is free, so the cost is governance effort rather than licence budget.

Written by the GreenAIX editors from the recorded fields above. Vendors do not review or approve verdicts.

Use cases

• Track Azure emissions by subscription, resource and location
• Attribute emissions to teams and cost centres
• Find idle or over-provisioned resources to reduce emissions
• Export monthly emissions data for sustainability reporting
• Feed emissions data into internal dashboards through REST APIs

Sources

• What is Carbon optimization in Azure
• Assign access to Carbon optimization in Azure