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Green IT surviving the recession

Green IT is still a priority, so long as it helps cut costs, claims Gartner.

By Nicole Kobie, 16 Apr 2009 at 10:55

Green IT is staying at the forefront of organisations' plans, despite recessionary cutbacks.

So says analyst Gartner, whose survey found that European IT directors are not letting the recession hit their green projects – despite their US counterparts predicting that environmentally friendly plans will fall in priority because of the recession.

Almost half (46 per cent) of European respondents said they expect to spend at least 15 per cent of their IT budgets on green projects, according to the research.

Rakesh Kumar, research vice president at Gartner, predicted that areas such as carbon reporting, video conferencing and green procurement will be important to IT for the next decade.

“This is because the political and scientific imperatives around the climate change will continue to push governments, international bodies and organisations as stakeholders increase the pressure to focus on environmental sustainability,” Kumar said in a statement.

Despite this, Gartner predicted that green projects without a clear cost-cutting benefit will likely be put off until next year and beyond.

“The need to paint cost cutting as green to make it interesting is gone,” Kumar explained. “For technology and service providers, when considering positioning a solution as green, providers need to consider whether it will save organisations money in less than 12 to 24 months. If not, they need to focus on the green benefits within the context of a broader business case for sustainability.”