Green IT is the contribution of IT to cross-functional sustainability programmes, writes Rodolphe d'Arjuzon, managing director of analyst firm Verdantix. It only has a value if it meets the carbon-reduction, energy-efficiency, resource-reduction or broader sustainability goals of the business as a whole.

CIOs who start spending in today's recessionary environment on new hardware, chillers and HVAC for green data centres with payback beyond 12 months will not win plaudits from the CFO. And there will be little wriggle room for the CIO where the CEO has a corporate carbon-reduction plan, or the COO is promoting an energy-efficiency programme.

Data centres and desktops consume huge amounts of power but most IT energy-reduction plans are the result of urban power density limits, or corporate consolidation strategies - witness Oracle's plan for a fresh-air cooled data centre in Utah after buying 20 firms.

Greening the business

Stepping outside of the plans to make IT greener, what about IT's role in greening the business? Firms in industries that face carbon-compliance regimes will require technology-enabled processes that keep the directors out of jail - or at least stop the firm being fined for insufficient greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions allowances or failing to report accurate CO2 emissions.

Green IT has value - but only for green business. So instead of sourcing Energy Star PCs and touting the potential for storage optimisation solutions to cut IT's energy spend (which IT may not pay for directly anyway), the CIO should move quickly to support the board's need to produce secure, auditable and accurate energy consumption data and emissions calculations.

New regulations like the Carbon Reduction Commitment in the UK apply to all sectors. In the US, the Environmental Protection Agency has made energy and carbon data-reporting mandatory for emission intensive sectors from January 2010. CIOs need to appoint a project manager to get to grips with the universe of carbon and GHG software management firms.

The benefits of reducing air travel

Smart CIOs can also get onto the front foot by articulating the cost saving (and carbon reduction) potential of reducing business air travel. Non-emissions intensive firms in high-margin sectors like media, professional services, banking, insurance and high-tech have cultivated a culture that encourages air travel for career advancement. But do people enjoy flying to the same cities every month? Or do they fly because everyone else flies? Enter video collaboration.

After researching sustainable telecoms solutions recently, Verdantix recommends CIOs integrate the usage stats of video collaboration with data on air travel expenses. The CFO is happy because investment in video collaboration cuts travel expenses and pays back within 12 to 18 months. Senior staff are happy because they can use their time more effectively.

And the CEO is happy because the CO2 emissions from video collaboration are 90 per cent less than air travel - having just made a public commitment to cut GHG emissions by 30 per cent before 2020!

Rodolphe d'Arjuzon is the managing director of Verdantix, an analyst firm focusing on climate change, sustainability and energy issues.

Part 1 of this debate features a viewpoint from Steve O'Donnell, head of technology research at CleanAnalysis.