Recent research shows that a high proportion of businesses in Europe are wasteful in their approach to saving energy through green ICT (Information Communication Technologies) policies and do not implement measures to save energy and thus money around the usage of common ICT equipment.
According to new research carried out by CEPIS, the Council
of European Professional Informatics Societies and its Green ICT Task Force,
over a third of organisations in Europe do not implement green ICT policies.
This research targeted ICT managers across Europe providing insight on
organisations’ usage of ICT equipment, as well as their awareness of and attitudes
to energy efficiency.
Approximately 350 ICT Managers from 16 countries in Europe
participated in the research to determine how ‘green’ ICT-aware organisations
really are, by assessing their attitudes, and how everyday ICT equipment is
used and monitored in the workplace. The results showed that the ‘greenest’ ICT-aware
organisations are in Greece, Ireland and Switzerland. Energy efficient policies
however are lacking in business, with over a third of organisations stating
that they do not implement green ICT policies. The main driving factor for why
there are no policies in place according to respondents, is that there is no
official legislation enforcing such practices.
Almost half of organisations do not inform or train their
computer users in how to best reduce energy consumption. ICT underpins
virtually all aspects of business, yet over two thirds of organisations do not
carry out basic monitoring of technology used by employees. Overall a ‘green’
attitude is lacking in larger organisations especially since
micro-organisations are more like to actually implement such policies.