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DCL
Given the carbon footprint that electronics have and the potential for the companies that produce them to lighten that load, it's useful to stay up to date with the efforts those companies are putting in to clean up their act.
The latest version of Greenpeace's IT Leaderboard was released last week, and ranks what IT companies are doing to address climate change.
Cisco was right at the top, primarily due to its smart grid technology and office energy management. Right behind Cisco was Ericsson, because of what Greenpeace called "real world case studies" that "measure how its solutions are driving down emissions."
Greenpeace Campaigner Casey Harrell said, "To play a significant role in helping make sure global greenhouse gas emissions peak by 2015, IT companies need to deliver upon the promise that their technology can provide substantial climate savings today."
"The company bottom line coupled with the environmental bottom line, the need to curb a growing greenhouse gas emissions, should send the IT industry to the front lines in the battle for a clean energy economy.
Greenpeace's description of the assessment results:
--Cisco: aggressively moving to drive smart grid technology and has demonstrated the significant impact of its solutions offerings in reducing energy consumption through office design and energy management.
--Google: its PowerMeter tool provides real time energy consumption information allowing consumers to take action and reduce energy use. It is also demonstrating strong policy advocacy to require utilities to make smart meter data available in real time.
--Ericsson and Fujitsu: both have developed a strong methodology for measuring net impact of their solutions, which is essential for evaluating the impact of IT on a broad scale. Fujitsu is also the first company to set a credible goal for the overall amount of carbon savings provided to its customers.
Perhaps no company demonstrates IT's potential to make a difference while also representing the industry's significant contribution to climate change more than Google. Ranked sixth, Google remains the top scoring company on political advocacy, having put forward a clear vision for moving to a clean energy economy.
