News Article - 06 November 2008
Category: Environment

The ICT industry as a whole as been "slow to embrace" a low carbon emissions measurement economy, research has suggested.

A survey by analysis firm Gartner and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) found that the sector is not taking advantage of opportunities for accounting for carbon emissions, such as travel substitution and grid applications.

It was also revealed that IT service firms are "immature" in their environmental agendas, while only a few had considered how a low carbon economy would affect or benefit their business plans.

Simon Mingay, research vice president at the company, said that there is "work to do" in the next year and beyond.

"A particular focus will be needed on a standard approach and methodology for life-cycle assessments that measure the varied environmental impacts of a product or service throughout its lifecycle and consequently help reduce its carbon emissions," he said.

"In addition, ICT providers will need to create innovative solutions with inter-industry partners and show a net reduction in GHG emissions in the context of a macro-economic scale system boundary."

The government announced in July that it was aiming to achieve carbon neutrality in its ICT systems in four years.

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