Businesses 'not aware' of all carbon saving technologies

A number of organisations do not realise that IT could help them to reduce their carbon emissions, it has been claimed.

Indeed there is a lack of awareness of the full range of ways in which firms could reduce their carbon footprint, says the associate vice-president of consulting at IDC, Chris Ingle.

Utilising unified communications systems and ip telephony solutions may be one way that firms can use IT to help reduce carbon emissions, particularly if online conferencing facilities are used instead of travel.

However, more needs to be done to raise awareness in this area, Mr Ingle suggested.

He noted that there is a "lack of awareness" of the range of IT systems that can be used to help reduce carbon but that it is not always IT departments that are responsible for making decisions relating to these technologies.

Mr Ingle's comments follow a report from IDC which stated that IT-based technologies have the potential to reduce carbon emissions by 25 per cent in G20 countries.