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Although the IT industry is currently responsible for around 2% of greenhouse gas emissions, the “2008 Green IT report” by Capgemini says “there’s still a lot to do”, especially regarding the control of products’ life cycle.



Brian Doherty, consultant at Capgemini, who investigated the green practices of EMC, HP, IBM, Intel, Sun and Google, declared that “In spite of their good intentions, these companies still face difficulties in extending their green policies along the supply chain because of its complexity”.



But good news can be found in the report: 90% of the energy used at HP Ireland comes from wind power, while Google installed thousands of solar panels in its headquarters in the U.S. At IBM, the level of renewable energy use grew from 2.7% in 2005 to 7.3% in 2008. This is not enough, says Capgemini who urges its partners to increase investments in green R&D and improve water recycling. Home working, teleconferencing and the extensive use of e-documents are other simple solutions.



In addition, companies such as Google are increasingly investing in the energy sector as a potential profit opportunity and not for its environmental promise. “Going green is not only eco-friendly but crucial for business” said a spokesman at LG electronics. That’s why PC makers from Apple to Lenovo are replacing conventional screens with new LED (light emitting diode) displays which can save up to 40% of the power used by traditional backlights.



Some voices already raised their concerns that a lack of investment in Europe might push very smart green technologies overseas “to places like the US where investors are happier to take a risk”. Others, like Gartner are worried that the forthcoming EU regulation on green IT standards could squeeze the smaller independent vendors out of the market.



A lack of investment might well be a disaster for the labour market too if we consider that energy-efficient policies created more than 5.3 million jobs in the US in the last two decades and that green jobs are expected to grow in the future. A study from the University of Berkeley found that overall employee compensation improved by $US 43 billion throughout California thanks to its green policies. “When consumers shift one dollar of demand from electricity to groceries… they create jobs among retailers, wholesalers, food processors and other businesses” the research says. On top of that, green consumers, who are ready to pay extra for products that use less energy are more brand-loyal than the average.



In addition, green-collar jobs are not a rebranding of blue-collar ones. They are “safer, typically higher-paying jobs and are community-serving and meaningful” said Raquel Pinderhughes, a professor of urban studies at San Francisco State University. A consultant at Boston business said that “even traditional manual-labor jobs can be improved by adding green skills” and that “workers will change how they measure their success in their careers… toward building a more sustainable world”.



UNI definitely supports these arguments and wishes IT companies will recognize environmental issues have a direct affect on their reputation, performance and workers and hope they will include these crucial topics in their CSR strategy. UNI ICTS is also planning to organise the next UNI Europa ICT Forum around this subject and will seek to promote the issue with EU policy makers and employers.