By Aman Aggarwal, Chief Operating Officer, CloudKeeper
Imagine this:
Right now, as you read this page, you’re contributing to carbon emissions – simply by being online. A single webpage visit can emit up to 2 grams of CO₂, depending on the content and hosting infrastructure. Over the course of a year, that adds up enough to melt a few ice cubes off a distant glacier (and yes, it adds up faster than you’d think).
But here’s the twist:
If the cloud system hosting this page is powered by green cloud computing, those emissions can drop dramatically, in some cases by up to 98%.
No melted glaciers. Minimal emissions.
Now you understand the effect.
Why sustainable cloud strategy matters more than ever
Let’s be real – cloud isn’t the new kid on the block anymore. From powering AI models to handling global e-commerce traffic, the cloud’s scale has exploded. But so has its environmental footprint.
By now, most of the big cloud providers have made bold climate pledges. Microsoft plans to be carbon negative by 2030, Google’s gunning for 24/7 carbon-free energy by the same year, and Amazon wants to hit net-zero emissions by 2040. These are ambitious, game-changing goals — but they only get us part of the way there.
The rest? That depends on how you use the cloud.
Because even the greenest datacentre can’t help if your workloads are inefficient, your resources are overprovisioned, or your teams aren’t optimising usage. Sustainable cloud computing isn’t just the provider’s job, it’s a shared responsibility.
And the good news? There are smart, proven ways to do your part and save costs while you’re at it.
Here are some best practices you can implement for ‘green computing’ while optimising your cloud usage
- Start with the right cloud partner
AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud aren’t just competing on uptime anymore — they’re racing to decarbonise. From 100% renewable matching to carbon-negative goals, your choice of provider now plays a starring role in your sustainability journey. Start here. Pick a cloud that walks the talk. - Go beyond virtualisation – think Containers
Virtual machines laid the groundwork. Containers take it further. By packing applications into lighter, more efficient units (think Docker, Kubernetes), you use fewer resources and less energy, especially at scale. It’s like switching from trucks to bikes for short, fast deliveries. - Embrace serverless for leaner operations
Serverless computing eliminates the always-on infrastructure trap. You only run code when it’s needed, which slashes idle time and energy waste. Bonus: It also simplifies ops and accelerates dev cycles. - Let automation do the scaling
Auto-scaling – especially when driven by real-time data or AI – ensures you’re not overprovisioning. No more spinning up resources “just in case.” You scale only when demand spikes, keeping both emissions and bills in check. - Optimise what you build, not just where you run it
Software matters. Lightweight code. Efficient algorithms. Clean architecture. All of it reduces compute strain. Instead of throwing more cloud at a performance problem, smart teams are optimising their apps to do more with less. - Process data where it happens (Hello, edge computing)
Why send terabytes to a datacentre when you can process it closer to the source? Edge computing trims latency, boosts responsiveness, and reduces the energy footprint of data transport — especially useful in IoT, manufacturing, and retail. - Make data your superpower
By analysing usage patterns, idle times, and resource consumption, you can surface inefficiencies you didn’t know existed. Use that data to inform rightsising, improve architecture, and track sustainability KPIs. What gets measured can get greener.
The double win
Cloud sustainability isn’t just about doing the right thing for the planet. It’s also about building smarter, more efficient businesses. Thus, the right green practices help you hit two birds with one cloud strategy:
Financial sustainability
When you trim the excess – unused instances, overprovisioned storage, and idle compute, your cloud bills shrink fast. With tools like auto-scaling, serverless, and containerisation, you’re essentially minimising cloud waste. And that means more room in the budget for innovation.
Operational sustainability
Cleaner, optimised workloads run faster, fail less, and adapt better. Dynamic resource allocation, virtualisation, and energy-aware development practices give your systems the agility they need to scale without burning through energy or engineering hours.
Final thoughts: Embrace green computing for a better future
Globally, 25% of physical servers and 30% of virtual servers are considered “zombie” – inactive for at least 6 months. That’s an estimated 10 million idle servers, costing businesses around $30 billion – not including energy and operational costs.
Think about that – billions lost in cloud spend and massive energy waste, just because resources weren’t monitored or optimised.
The point? Optimisation is sustainability.
And again, sustainability and profitability aren’t at odds – they’re part of the same conversation. The teams that get this right won’t just reduce emissions; they’ll build stronger, more future-ready cloud foundations.
In a world where every byte has a footprint, the smartest cloud strategies are the greenest ones. Let’s course correct towards the right direction – by minimising cloud waste and smarter provisioning.
