ICT Sustainability Global Benchmark Index 2011

ICT is a large consumer of energy, and is globally responsible for 3 per cent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. At current rates of growth in ICT usage, this is forecast to grow to 6 per cent by 2020. More importantly, ICT is responsible for 5 to 10 per cent of the typical economy’s total electricity consumption. In some organizations that rely heavily on ICT, such as banks, government and in many other administrative industries, ICT can account for up to 75 per cent of all energy consumption. 

The ICT industry must decarbonize itself to the greatest extent possible and exploit its unique opportunity to build and deploy enabling technologies. The application of ICT in areas such as smart grids, smart logistics, smart transport systems, smart building systems, cloud computing and the supporting societal applications will enable significant reductions in emissions in other industry sectors, and support the transition to a prosperous low carbon economy. 

In a recent survey by Fujitsu, not only is the maturity low, the overall index has declined slightly from 2010, indicating that some of the buzz has gone from Green ICT and that it is not being given priority or initiatives have begun to come unstuck. 

Not only is the maturity low, the overall index has declined slightly from 2010, indicating that some of the buzz has gone from Green ICT and that it is not being given priority or initiatives have begun to come unstuck. On the positive side we have seen an increase in ICT solutions that include ICT Sustainability at the core, such as Cloud Computing, the design of sustainable data centers and the increasing use of renewable energy onsite.

Some key findings 

• 54.3 - The average ICT Sustainability Index in 2011, measured across all countries and all industry sectors.
• 2.7 - The decline in the Index from 2010 to 2011, indicating that the maturity of ICT Sustainability has decreased over the last 12 months.
• 19.6 - The difference in the average index for those organizations that have total control over and responsibility for their ICT power consumption 65.1, and those who have never even thought about it 45.5.
• 14.2% - The proportion of ICT departments who include the cost of ICT’s power consumption in their ICT budget.
• 64.6 - The highest Index for any industry in any country: Manufacturing in Canada.
• 80.0 - The ICT Sustainability Index score considered to be best practice, or close to it.

Read full report here.