The AWS Customer Carbon Footprint Tool is a free report in the Billing console that shows the emissions from your AWS usage across Scope 1, 2, and 3. Read the location-based Scope 2 figure, because that is the number your rightsizing, region, and scheduling choices actually move. Break it down by region and service to find the hotspots, act, then re-measure. Note the timing: AWS plans to deprecate this tool on 30 June 2026 in favor of the new AWS Sustainability Console, so move your reporting there now.
The AWS Customer Carbon Footprint Tool, or CCFT, is a free dashboard in the AWS Billing console that estimates the greenhouse gas emissions associated with your AWS usage. It is the starting point for any AWS sustainability effort because it uses AWS's own facility and grid data, which no external estimate can match. As of its 2025 updates it reports all three Greenhouse Gas Protocol scopes and offers both market-based and location-based Scope 2 figures, with historical data recalculated back to January 2022 so year-over-year comparison is meaningful, per the AWS CCFT documentation. This is the AWS-specific companion to how to measure cloud carbon emissions across providers.
This article is part of our complete guide to cloud sustainability and GreenOps, the cluster pillar it links up to.
AWS plans to deprecate the Customer Carbon Footprint Tool on 30 June 2026, replacing it with the AWS Sustainability Console, which adds functionality and does not require Billing console permissions. The data and scopes carry over; move your reporting and any saved views to the Sustainability Console.
How do I access the carbon tool?
Access the carbon tool through the AWS Billing console, or through the new Sustainability Console which needs no Billing permissions. The steps are short:
- Open the tool in the Billing console. Sign in, open Cost and Billing, then Customer Carbon Footprint Tool. Alternatively open the new AWS Sustainability Console, which is the path to use going forward.
- Read Scope 1, 2 and 3 together. Review the full footprint: Scope 1 direct emissions such as backup generators and refrigerants, Scope 2 electricity, and Scope 3 lifecycle emissions such as server manufacturing.
- Compare market-based and location-based. Switch between the two Scope 2 methods to see emissions with and without AWS clean-energy purchases. Location-based is the figure that responds to your own optimizations.
- Break the data down by region and service. Use the breakdowns and AWS Data Exports to find which regions and services drive the footprint, and target those first.
- Act and re-measure. Rightsize, move to efficient instances, and shift suitable workloads to low-carbon regions, then re-check the tool to confirm the reduction.
Which number should I actually watch?
Watch the location-based Scope 2 figure, because it reflects the real grid your workloads ran on and is the number your engineering choices move. The market-based figure credits AWS's renewable-energy purchases and can read close to zero, which is real corporate progress but tells you little about whether your own usage is efficient or well placed. Location-based, by contrast, falls when you rightsize, when you move a workload to a cleaner region, and when you schedule flexible jobs for cleaner hours. If you report one headline number to a sustainability team, report both and explain the difference; if you optimize against one, optimize against location-based.
| What the tool shows | Covers | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Scope 1 | Backup generators, refrigerants | Mostly AWS-controlled |
| Scope 2 market-based | Electricity, net of clean-energy buys | AWS renewable purchasing |
| Scope 2 location-based | Electricity, raw grid average | Your rightsizing, region, timing |
| Scope 3 | Server manufacturing, transport | Volume of usage over time |
Want the AWS footprint read and acted on for you?
Our FinOps implementation reads the carbon data, finds the region and rightsizing hotspots, and proves cost and carbon down together across AWS and beyond. Fixed fee, performance fee, or fully managed. On the performance model, you pay only from realized savings.
Talk to us about FinOps implementation →What are the limits of the tool?
The tool's main limits are latency, granularity, and methodology, and knowing them keeps you from over-reading it. The data lags by roughly three months, so it is a trend instrument rather than a real-time one. It reports at a higher level than per-resource, so it points you toward hotspot regions and services rather than naming a single instance to fix. And it uses AWS's own methodology, which differs from Azure's and Google's, so the figure is not directly comparable across clouds, the problem we address in how to measure cloud carbon emissions across providers. None of this undermines the tool; it just means you pair it with your own usage data to act at the resource level, which is what a FinOps implementation does.
The FinOps Operating Model Blueprint includes the carbon-baseline worksheet we use to turn the AWS tool's data into a prioritized optimization plan.
Common questions about the AWS carbon tool
Is the AWS Customer Carbon Footprint Tool free?
Yes. The Customer Carbon Footprint Tool is included at no charge for AWS customers and is accessed through the Billing console. The newer AWS Sustainability Console is also provided at no additional cost and does not require Billing console permissions.
Does the tool show Scope 3 emissions?
Yes, since late 2025. The tool now reports Scope 3 emissions, covering the lifecycle footprint such as manufacturing the servers and transporting equipment, alongside Scope 1 and Scope 2. It also added a location-based method in 2025 to sit beside the existing market-based figures.
Is the Customer Carbon Footprint Tool being replaced?
Yes. AWS plans to deprecate the Customer Carbon Footprint Tool on 30 June 2026 in favor of the new AWS Sustainability Console, which offers additional functionality and does not require Billing console permissions. Move your reporting to the Sustainability Console.
Written by Fredrik Filipsson and reviewed by Morten Andersen, applying our See, Cut, Lock, Run method. Independent and vendor neutral.
Cloud pricing and service behavior change frequently. Verify the specifics in this guide against the providers’ own current documentation and the FinOps Foundation: AWS pricing ↗, AWS documentation ↗ and FinOps Foundation Framework ↗. This article also reflects Cloud Cost Room’s hands-on, vendor-neutral engagement experience.