Cloud Integration Guide

Connect your cloud infrastructure to automatically track compute, storage, and network emissions across AWS, Azure, GCP, and more.

What You'll Learn

  • Cloud provider setup and permissions
  • Service account configuration
  • Billing integration and cost allocation
  • Emission factor configuration
  • Regional data center mapping
  • Monitoring and optimization

Prerequisites

Before you start, ensure you have:

Account Requirements

  • Active Carbon Recycling Platform account
  • Cloud provider administrator access
  • Billing account access (for cost data)

Information Needed

  • Cloud account IDs and subscription details
  • Primary regions and data centers used
  • Resource tagging strategy (if any)
1

Choose Your Cloud Provider

We support 20+ cloud providers from major hyperscalers to specialized platforms.

AWS

Amazon Web Services

  • • EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda
  • • Cost & Usage Reports
  • • CloudWatch metrics
  • • Multi-account support
Real-time data
AZ

Microsoft Azure

  • • VMs, Storage, SQL, Functions
  • • Cost Management API
  • • Azure Monitor
  • • Subscription hierarchy
Real-time data
GCP

Google Cloud Platform

  • • Compute Engine, Cloud Storage
  • • Cloud Billing API
  • • Cloud Monitoring
  • • Project organization
Real-time data

Additional Cloud Providers

DigitalOcean

Droplets, Spaces, App Platform

Cloudflare

Workers, R2, Pages

Vercel

Serverless functions, Edge

Netlify

Functions, CDN, Forms

Multi-cloud setup? You can integrate multiple providers simultaneously. We'll help you consolidate emissions data across all your cloud infrastructure.

2

Set Up Service Account Authentication

AWS

Amazon Web Services Setup

Create IAM Role for Cross-Account Access

  1. Log into your AWS Management Console
  2. Navigate to IAM → Roles → Create Role
  3. Select "Another AWS Account"
  4. Enter Account ID: 123456789012 (our Carbon Recycling account)
  5. Require external ID: [provided during setup]
  6. Attach the following policies:
- ReadOnlyAccess
- CostExplorerServiceReadOnlyAccess  
- CloudWatchReadOnlyAccess
- BillingReadOnlyAccess

Enable Cost and Usage Reports

  1. Go to AWS Billing → Cost & Usage Reports
  2. Click "Create Report"
  3. Report name: carbon-recycling-cur
  4. Include resource IDs: Yes
  5. S3 bucket: Create new or use existing
  6. File format: Parquet (recommended)
AZ

Microsoft Azure Setup

Create Service Principal

  1. Open Azure Cloud Shell or Azure CLI
  2. Run the following command:
az ad sp create-for-rbac --name "carbon-recycling-reader" \
  --role "Cost Management Reader" \
  --scopes "/subscriptions/YOUR-SUBSCRIPTION-ID"

Save the output JSON - you'll need the appId, password, and tenant values.

Assign Additional Permissions

  • • Reader role on subscription level
  • • Cost Management Reader for billing data
  • • Monitoring Reader for metrics
GCP

Google Cloud Platform Setup

Create Service Account

  1. Go to IAM & Admin → Service Accounts
  2. Click "Create Service Account"
  3. Name: carbon-recycling-reader
  4. Grant the following roles:
- Cloud Asset Viewer
- Billing Account Viewer  
- Monitoring Viewer
- Compute Viewer

Generate Key File

  1. Click on the created service account
  2. Go to "Keys" tab
  3. Click "Add Key" → "Create new key"
  4. Choose JSON format
  5. Download and securely store the key file
3

Configure Data Collection & Mapping

Map your cloud resources to our carbon accounting framework for accurate emissions tracking.

Service Category Resources Tracked Emission Scope Calculation Method
Compute VMs, Containers, Serverless functions Scope 2 - Purchased electricity Instance hours × region factor
Storage Object storage, Block storage, Databases Scope 2 - Purchased electricity GB stored × storage factor
Network Data transfer, CDN, Load balancers Scope 3 - Downstream transport GB transferred × network factor
Managed Services AI/ML, Analytics, Monitoring Scope 3 - Purchased services Usage metrics × service factor

Regional Emission Factors (kgCO2e per compute hour)

Europe West (London)
0.00005
US East (Virginia)
0.00008
Asia Pacific (Singapore)
0.00012
Other regions
Calculated dynamically
4

Test Your Integration

Validation Checklist

Authentication & Permissions

  • Service account connects successfully
  • Billing data is accessible
  • Resource metrics are retrievable
  • Multi-region access works

Data Quality & Accuracy

  • Resource usage aligns with console
  • Cost data matches billing reports
  • Emission calculations are reasonable
  • Historical data imports correctly

Sample Test Results

Cloud Integration Test Results: AWS Production Account
✅ Authentication: SUCCESS (Role: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/CarbonRecyclingReader)
✅ Billing Access: SUCCESS (CUR reports available)
✅ Resource Discovery: SUCCESS (1,247 resources found)
✅ Regional Mapping: SUCCESS (3 regions: us-east-1, eu-west-1, ap-southeast-1)

Monthly Resource Summary:
- EC2 Compute Hours: 8,760 hours
- S3 Storage: 2.4 TB
- Data Transfer: 156 GB
- Estimated Emissions: 127.3 kgCO2e
- Monthly Cost: $1,847.23
5

Optimize & Monitor

Carbon Optimization Tips

  • Choose regions with renewable energy grids
  • Use auto-scaling to minimize idle resources
  • Implement right-sizing recommendations
  • Use serverless functions for variable workloads
  • Set up lifecycle policies for storage

Monitoring Setup

  • Configure alerts for emission spikes
  • Set up monthly carbon reporting
  • Track carbon efficiency metrics over time
  • Review architecture recommendations
  • Monitor for service updates and new features

Your Carbon Dashboard Will Show:

Real-time Emissions
127.3
kgCO2e this month
Carbon Efficiency
0.069
kgCO2e per $1 spent
Optimization Score
87%
carbon optimized

Common Issues & Solutions

Service account authentication fails

Possible causes:

  • Incorrect permissions on the service account
  • Cross-account trust policy misconfiguration
  • Service account key file corrupted or expired

Solutions:

  • Verify all required permissions are attached
  • Check trust relationships and external ID (AWS)
  • Generate new service account keys
  • Test authentication using cloud CLI tools
Billing data not accessible

Possible causes:

  • Missing billing permissions
  • Cost & Usage Reports not enabled
  • Billing account linked to different organization

Solutions:

  • Add billing-specific roles to service account
  • Enable detailed billing reports in cloud console
  • Verify billing account access and permissions
High API usage or rate limiting

Possible causes:

  • Too frequent sync intervals
  • Large number of resources being queried
  • Multiple integrations hitting same API

Solutions:

  • Adjust sync frequency to optimal intervals
  • Implement resource filtering and pagination
  • Configure exponential backoff for retries
Emission calculations seem incorrect

Possible causes:

  • Regional emission factors not updated
  • Resource usage metrics misaligned
  • Double counting across services

Solutions:

  • Verify regional data center mapping
  • Cross-reference usage with cloud console
  • Review resource attribution settings

Need Help?

Our cloud specialists are here to help you set up and optimize your cloud carbon tracking.

Contact Support View Documentation