Green IT practices in most organizations are basic and their impact has been limited, according to a benchmarking survey by Fujitsu.

 

In a study that covered the US, the UK, India and Australia, it found “significant” scope for improvement in every aspect of green IT. 

 

While green IT “has been highly topical in the last five years, real progress and action has been slow,” the report said.

 

It said the worst-performing area was the use of metrics. Organizations were “hampered by the lack of measurement of even the most basic aspect of IT department power consumption and billing.”

 

The use of IT to improve performance and reduce the carbon footprint outside of the IT function also scored low.

 

Overall, green IT maturity was comparatively low, with the index across all industries in all countries rated at 56.4 (out of 100), the study said.

 

“The findings show that green IT practices and technologies in most organizations are often quite rudimentary. It is possible to improve them substantially with comparatively little effort.”

The best-performing areas were enterprise operations, such as data centers and networking, and the end-user, which covered functions such as PCs and printing.

 

Fujitsu global executive director sustainability, Alison O’Flynn, said: “Tomorrow’s business leaders will be leaders in sustainability; they will understand the importance of an integrated sustainability strategy. IT has a fundamental role to play in enabling change and must step up to face this significant global challenge.”

 

The UK was the best-performing country, with an overall index score of 61.0. It also had the most stringent carbon reduction and carbon reporting regimen of any of the countries, and higher awareness of green IT. The US rated second, followed by Australia and India.