Required attributes for the Cloud for Sustainability carbon data model

Article
08/15/2024

This article provides information about the required attributes and rules for the Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability carbon data model.

Note

The July 2024 release introduced significant flexibility with the Cloud for Sustainability data model by making previously mandatory attributes optional and providing default values in some cases. We relaxed constraints on some required attributes where we determined their impact on data quality and stability to be insubstantial. For more information, go to Required attributes for the Cloud for Sustainability data model.

General rules

The Name value must always be unique.
The Origin Correlation ID value must be unique if specified. However, it isn't typically required.

Notation

The table that follows provides a partial list of the attributes in each entity. It includes only required attributes and attributes that influence the requirement of other attributes via logical dependency rules. The following notation is used in the "Required?" column:

Notation	Meaning
Y	Required
N	Optional
<--<attribute>	Required only if <attribute> is specified
Y \| <attribute>...	Required unless <attribute> is specified
Y <--<attribute> == <value>	Required if <attribute> contains <value>

Entity/attribute rules

You can download a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that lists Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability data model entities and attributes, and that shows which attributes are required from the Download Center.

This table lists additional attributes that are required based on the values in other attributes.

Entity	Attribute	Required?
Business Travel	Cost unit	<--Cost
	Distance unit	<--Distance
	Fuel quantity unit	<--Fuel quantity
	Fuel type	<--Fuel quantity
	Night stay unit	<--Night stay
	Quantity unit	<--Quantity
Capital good	Cost unit	<--Cost
	Quantity unit	<--Quantity
Emission	CH₄ unit	<--CH₄
	CO₂ unit	<--CO₂
	CO₂E unit	<--CO₂E
	HFCs unit	<-- HFCs
	N₂O unit	<--N₂O
	NF₃ unit	<--NF₃
	Other GHGs unit	<--Other GHGs
	PFCs unit	<--PFCs
	SF₆ unit	<--SF₆
Fugitive emission	Cost unit	<--Cost
	Facility usage detail	<--Leased asset category
	Quantity unit	<--Quantity
Industrial process	Cost unit	<--Cost
	Quantity unit	<--Quantity
Mobile combustion	Cost unit	<--Cost
	Distance	Y \| Fuel quantity \| Quantity
	Distance unit	<--Distance
	Facility usage detail	<--Leased asset category
	Fuel quantity	Y \| Distance \| Quantity
	Fuel quantity unit	<--Fuel quantity
	Fuel type	<--Fuel quantity
	Quantity	Y \| Fuel quantity \| Distance
	Quantity unit	<--Quantity
	Vehicle type	Y \| <--Distance
Purchased energy	Cost unit	<--Cost
	Facility usage detail	<--Leased asset category
	Quantity unit	<--Quantity
Purchased good and service	Cost unit	<--Cost
	Goods unit	<--Goods Quantity
	Quantity unit	<--Quantity
Stationary combustion	Cost	Y \| Quantity
	Cost unit	<--Cost
	Facility usage detail	<--Leased asset category
	Quantity	Y \| Cost
	Quantity unit	<--Quantity
Transportation and distribution	Cost unit	<--Cost
	Distance unit	<--Distance
	Fuel quantity unit	<--Fuel quantity
	Fuel type	<--Fuel quantity
	Goods quantity (mass) unit	<--Goods quantity (mass)
	Quantity unit	<--Quantity
Waste generated in operations	Cost unit	<--Cost
	Distance unit	<--Distance
	Fuel quantity unit	<--Fuel quantity unit
	Quantity unit	<--Quantity
	Waste quantity unit	<--Waste quantity