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GreenKube

Carbon Tracking

GreenKube converts your Kubernetes cluster’s energy consumption into CO₂ equivalent emissions using real-time electricity grid carbon intensity data (Scope 2) and hardware manufacturing data (Scope 3), giving full GHG Protocol coverage for cloud workloads.

The Problem

Section titled “The Problem”

Engineering teams running Kubernetes workloads have no visibility into the carbon footprint they generate. Without measurement, reducing emissions is impossible — and cloud waste compounds the problem by creating unnecessary CO₂ on top of unnecessary spending.

GHG Scope Classification

Section titled “GHG Scope Classification”

GreenKube implements the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard for cloud workloads, covering both operational and upstream emissions.

Scope 2 — Operational Emissions (Electricity)

Section titled “Scope 2 — Operational Emissions (Electricity)”

Field: co2e_grams

Scope 2 covers the carbon emitted by generating the electricity your workloads consume.

co2e_grams = energy_kwh × grid_intensity_gCO₂e_per_kWh × pue

Data sources:

  • Energy: Estimated from CPU utilization × node power profile (see Energy Estimation)
  • Grid intensity: Real-time data from Electricity Maps API per zone
  • PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness): Provider-specific datacenter efficiency profiles (AWS 1.15, GCP 1.09, OVH 1.37, etc.)

Scope 3, Category 1 — Embodied Emissions (Hardware Manufacturing)

Section titled “Scope 3, Category 1 — Embodied Emissions (Hardware Manufacturing)”

Field: embodied_co2e_grams

Scope 3 Category 1 covers the upstream carbon cost of manufacturing the cloud hardware running your pods.

embodied_co2e_grams = (gwp_kg × 1000 / lifespan_hours) ×
                      (pod_duration_seconds / 3600) ×
                      (pod_cpu_cores / node_cpu_cores)

Data sources:

  • GWP (Global Warming Potential): Boavizta API per instance type (typically 50–170 kg for cloud VMs)
  • Fallback: DEFAULT_EMBODIED_EMISSIONS_KG = 100 kg when Boavizta has no data for a given instance type — calibrated to a cloud VM vCPU slice
  • Hardware lifespan: DEFAULT_HARDWARE_LIFESPAN_YEARS = 4 years (standard cloud equipment lifecycle)
  • Allocation: Proportional to the pod’s CPU share of the node

Total Footprint (Scope 2 + Scope 3)

Section titled “Total Footprint (Scope 2 + Scope 3)”

Field: total_co2e_all_scopes

The combined carbon footprint across both scopes is the primary metric for CSRD/ESRS E1 annual GHG disclosure.

How Carbon Zones Work

Section titled “How Carbon Zones Work”

Each cluster node is automatically mapped to an Electricity Maps zone based on its cloud provider and region. GreenKube includes built-in mappings for:

ProviderZone detection
AWSeu-west-1 → IE, us-east-1 → US-MIDA-PJM, etc.
GCPus-central1 → US-IL, europe-west3 → DE, etc.
Azurewesteurope → FR, eastus → US-MIDA-PJM, etc.
OVHGRA11 → GRA → FR, OpenStack nova zone handled gracefully
Scalewayfr-par → FR, nl-ams → NL, pl-waw → PL

If a zone can’t be resolved automatically, GreenKube falls back to a configurable default zone (DEFAULT_ZONE) or the global default intensity (DEFAULT_INTENSITY = 500 gCO₂e/kWh).

CSRD / ESRS E1 Reporting

Section titled “CSRD / ESRS E1 Reporting”

GreenKube is designed as a CSRD/ESRS E1 reporting tool for cloud infrastructure emissions. It generates the data needed for mandatory GHG disclosures under the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive:

ESRS RequirementGreenKube Field
Scope 2 (market-based)co2e_grams
Scope 3 upstream (Category 1)embodied_co2e_grams
Total GHG (Scope 2 + 3)total_co2e_all_scopes
Time range flexibility--years 2024, --start/--end
Namespace breakdown--group-by-namespace
Multi-year retentionInfinite aggregated retention by default

See Reports & Exports for instructions on generating CSRD-ready reports.

Carbon Visibility Features

Section titled “Carbon Visibility Features”
FeatureDescription
Per-pod CO₂e breakdownSee exactly which workloads emit the most carbon
Scope 2 + Scope 3 per podFull upstream + operational footprint
Historical time seriesConfigurable multi-year retention
Estimation transparencyis_estimated flag + estimation_reasons per metric
Export formatsCSV, JSON, API access for BI integration

Configuration

Section titled “Configuration”

Set your Electricity Maps API token for real-time, zone-specific carbon intensity:

# Helm values.yaml
secrets:
  electricityMapsToken: "your-api-token"

Without a token, GreenKube uses static default intensities per zone from the bundled CSV — still useful for trend analysis, but less accurate for compliance reporting. Get a free token at electricitymaps.com.

Section titled “Related”