Less talk, more action: that’s what companies want to see from their IT providers on the journey to a low-carbon future — yet they are still finding it difficult to have confidence in the green IT benefits claimed by many suppliers. With that in mind, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Gartner have performed the most detailed independent assessment of green IT credentials to date, in which researchers examined the efforts of 19 of the world’s leading technology providers to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions created by ICT. So what questions should customers be asking their current and prospective IT suppliers?

1) How can your portfolio of products and services help us to boost energy efficiency and reduce GHG emissions?

2) How will the results of your product development strategy and roadmap help our environmental initiatives?

3) How can you help us tackle e-waste, through the reuse and recycling of redundant IT equipment?

4) How are you addressing the environmental impact of your own internal operations, including your supply chain?

5) How will your industry partnership strategy help us to achieve our green IT goals?

6) How does your company work to influence international/ industry standards and policies on low-carbon development?

“The Gartner/WWF research provides greater transparency into how far the ICT industry has come with regard to addressing sustainability and the transition to a low-carbon economy,” says Alison O’Flynn Rowe, global executive director of sustainability at Fujitsu — which was ranked highest of the 19 participating vendors in two of the five main categories: “Transformation of IT” and “Internal environmental performance.”

Among the various initiatives that mark Fujitsu out as a leader with a long-term commitment to sustainability is its Green Policy Innovation (GPI), a commitment to reduce its customer greenhouse gas emissions by 15 million metric tons between 2009 and 2012.

See also Fujitsu’s analysis of the Gartner/WWF survey results. And sign in to our Member's Area to download highlights of Fujitsu’s global survey on green IT.

Data feed

• Greenhouse gas emissions from internal operations from a single ICT provider: 0.1 million metric tons (Mt) to 2Mt per year.

• Emissions associated with collective ICT product use: 600Mt per year.

• Global GHG emissions across all sectors of the economy are around 30,000Mt.
(Source: Gartner ID G00205702)