The Hindu Business Line : IT’s not all that clean and cool: Greenpeace

The information technology industry is perhaps not as environment friendly as is commonly believed, according to the findings of a Greenpeace Study. The results of the Greenpeace Cool IT Challenge should make the city, India’s IT capital, sit up and take notice.

Despite having a massive capacity to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the IT industry is not yet delivering on its potential, Greenpeace said in a statement. The IT industry calculated that it could enable more than 15 per cent cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, the statement said.

Score table

Greenpeace said leading the score table was Sun Microsystems, which has publicly advocated for reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050 and at least 25 per cent reduction (below 1990 levels) by 2020. IBM is joint top of table due to its wide range of solutions, Greenpeace said.

Fujitsu openly addressed the need to measure ‘net’ emission reductions that result from solutions they propose for the rest of the economy. But leading names such as HP, Microsoft and Sony are amongst other IT giants who score less than 15 out of the maximum of 100, it added.

All the IT companies ranked in the report fared poorly on demonstrable climate solutions for the economy despite their claims, Greenpeace said. Recent studies suggest that the ICT sector’s services and products could cut the world’s emissions by an estimated 15 per cent when applied in industry, buildings, transportation and power sectors.

“This would not only save the world from a climate catastrophe but also enable India to become an “energy secure” country. Today, the ICT sector has the opportunity to walk the green talk and become heroes in the fight against climate change”, said Vinuta Gopal, Climate campaigner, Greenpeace.

Cool IT Challenge

Greenpeace’s Cool IT Challenge was kick-started in February this year, asking CEOs of the major IT companies on their specific actions prioritising climate change. The Cool IT scorecard was released coinciding with the IT, Environment and Climate Change Conference being held in Copenhagen.

In the report card, scores have been given based on their responses to specific requests which urge them to show leadership by providing IT solutions and accurately measuring impact of the solutions they propose for the rest of the economy, lobbying for a strong climate deal in Copenhagen that would create a stimulus for an increase in demand for IT-driven climate solutions by the rest of the economy and reducing their own emissions and increasing their use of renewable energy.

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