From Fragmented Data to Open Standards: Product Category Rules and LCA at Scale for IT Hardware

At SDC 2025, engineers and technologists from Meta, Microsoft, and Google made the case for open standards to measure the carbon footprint of IT hardware. That panel catalyzed two concrete outcomes: the creation of a new SNIA Sustainability Technical Work Group, and accelerated progress on the OCP Product Category Rules (PCR) for datacenter equipment.

This keynote presents the first results of that effort. The OCP PCR draft, co-developed by Meta, Google, Microsoft, AWS, and Fraunhofer IZM, establishes the industry's first consensus framework for hardware lifecycle assessment. It includes a standardized hardware taxonomy that defines consistent LCA boundaries, along with a Data Quality Scoring system aligned with WBCSD's PACT standard to grade supplier carbon data. Alongside the PCR, we introduce the LCA at Scale methodology, an open approach to automating embodied carbon assessment across hyperscale fleets that moves the industry from manual, per-product LCAs to scalable, data-driven estimation. We also report on the newly chartered SNIA Sustainability TWG, which is developing storage-specific intensity metrics and circularity standards. With 99% of IT hardware carbon sitting in Scope 3 and AI infrastructure scaling at an unprecedented pace, these open frameworks represent the technical foundation the industry needs for meaningful decarbonization.