Why uncertainty about tech emissions is stifling innovation
The technology sector has reached a crossroads. While innovations like AI and cloud computing promise transformative business benefits, a shadow looms over their adoption, namely uncertainty and concern about their environmental impact.
We quizzed UK business leaders about how they think emissions impact their plans and discovered that 62% of them fear a public backlash if their tech stack emissions are deemed too high. Even more worrying is that 43% admit they are reluctant to even measure their full digital carbon footprint.
The figures underlined what we already suspected, that there is a sustainability paradox that is fuelling a crisis for UK business leaders. They know they need to innovate, yet the fear of sustainability scrutiny is creating an impasse that threatens to stall progress across industries.
VP & GM for EMEA at Wasabi.
The transparency crisis in tech emissions
So how have we reached this juncture? Well, there may have been a media backlash in recent months against sustainability and strategies that aim for net zero carbon emissions. Yet for businesses across Europe sustainability remains very high on their agendas. They continue to face ongoing pressure from regulators, investors, and consumers to demonstrate environmental responsibility.
However, our 2025 Emissions Blindspots Report, which surveyed 1,200 European decision-makers, uncovered a troubling reality. We found that 47% of UK businesses distrust the emissions data provided by their tech vendors.
The main concern is over Scope 3 emissions, those that originate indirectly from value chain activities, like the emissions produced by a company’s technology infrastructure. While these often represent the largest portion of a company’s carbon profile, they are also the element of emissions that companies have least visibility over. Ultimately UK businesses rely on accurate and transparent data from their supplier. The irony is that there are still a significant number of UK businesses that believe they can not accurately measure these tech-related emissions.
As Archana Venkatraman of IDC notes, “Innovation is a top priority for leaders, but concerns about inconsistent sustainability data are directly impacting companies’ ability to invest confidently.”
This is not about compliance, it is about maintaining momentum and developing competitive advantages. Businesses attempting to harness AI or migrate to cloud infrastructure have a difficult choice to make. Do they move forward blindly and risk a sustainability backlash? Or should they delay adoption and potentially cede ground to competitors? At a time when bold innovation is most needed, neither option is ideal. Sustainability plays a key role in determining which tech suppliers businesses choose. They are hamstrung without reliable, accurate information.
The problem with inconsistent data
The heart of the issue lies in fragmented responsibility. There has been clear progress in recent years with most businesses now reporting improved emissions tracking. Yet that progress is undermined by inconsistent vendor data.
There are a whole host of reasons why companies are not getting the data they desperately need. Firstly, some companies are simply not tracking the data. They have not yet made the move to incorporate the wide range of tools that are available to help them, then those that are may not always be willing to release it for fear of backlash. There are also companies who argue that they do not have enough internal resources to capture and analyze the data to paint an accurate picture.
Even if companies do have the data there are still issues to overcome. In particular proprietary systems and unstandardized metrics make cross-platform comparisons nearly impossible, meaning that figures are often estimated rather than having hard data to hand.
Standards and transparency pledges
How then can businesses break this deadlock? Firstly, governments must collaborate with the corporate world to agree on industry-wide standards for tech emissions measurement. These should be easy to implement and quantify, perhaps similar to financial reporting requirements.
As we’ve seen with recent changes to the climate disclosure mandates from the EU’s CSRD regulation, enforcing emission measurements can be considered a burden if not well-considered. So, regulators and businesses must work together to find a framework that supports both sustainability progress and economic growth.
Once the standards are agreed businesses need to play their role in agreeing transparency pledges. Ideally these should be supported by enforceable accountability mechanisms.
Lastly technology has a role to play in creating ever more sophisticated and indeed simple tools to enable every company from startups to enterprises to easily track emissions across hybrid/multi-cloud environments.
As businesses balance growth mandates with sustainability goals, they deserve partners who provide clarity. For the sake of the planet, the cloud and AI revolutions must not come at the cost of environmental progress. By demanding and delivering transparent emissions data, the tech industry can turn sustainability from an innovation barrier into an accelerator.
The message from European businesses is clear. Measure accurately, report transparently, and innovate fearlessly. The vendors who embrace this challenge will power the next wave of progress, while those who do not will find themselves left behind.
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The technology sector has reached a crossroads. While innovations like AI and cloud computing promise transformative business benefits, a shadow looms over their adoption, namely uncertainty and concern about their environmental impact. We quizzed UK business leaders about how they think emissions impact their plans and discovered that 62% of…
