The IT industry
stands to profit significantly by selling energy efficient tech
solutions to reduce greenhouse gases, yet has been dramatically
outspent and mostly silent in support of strong climate policies in
the United States or internationally. Instead, IT companies
continue to fund the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's regressive and
destructive stance on climate issues, even when unaligned with
their own climate policies.
"Apple's recent bold
move to leave the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over its obstruction of
government efforts to address climate change contrasts strongly
with its competitors Google, Microsoft and IBM's relative inaction
at this crucial juncture for our climate," said Casey Harrell,
Greenpeace International's IT industry analyst. "IT companies can
and should publicly and demonstratively call for a change in the
Chamber's position on climate or leave the Chamber
altogether."
Companies' clear
public support for strong emissions reductions is a key scoring
criteria on Greenpeace's leaderboard, along with the company's
measurable, economy-wide climate solutions, as well as concrete
efforts to reduce their own emissions. IBM, HP and Fujitsu occupy
the top 3 places in this assessment, but no company scores above 50
out of a possible 100. Google- a new addition- comes in at number
four, scoring 32.
The Smart 2020 report
( (www.smart2020.org) commissioned by the
IT industry itself, clearly outlines how IT solutions have the
potential to cut global GHG emissions by a remarkable 15 percent by
2020.
"Even though the IT
industry will profit from strong emissions reduction targets,
disappointingly, it is not even close to its potential of leading
the way to a low carbon economy," added Harrell.. "IT giants like
Microsoft, Google and IBM need to put their weight behind a strong
deal at Copenhagen now, or else the world will lose out again to
dirty industry's negative lobbying and the U.S. Chamber's campaign
to deny sound science and public support for progress."
IBM holds the top
spot on the leaderboard due to an extensive range of climate
solutions and action to reduce its own emissions, but is only one
point ahead of HP, which has improved greatly since the last
Greenpeace assessment in May. Both HP and Toshiba show strong
progress by providing more comprehensive information on how their
climate solutions can reduce global emissions. Dell, Nokia and Sony
all failed to show significant improvement in their scores since
May 2009.
Google has clearly
set out a plan for reducing emissions by 2030 but is has not yet
spoken up on the need for a strong global deal at Copenhagen. The
CEO of Ericsson has made prominent speeches on the urgency of
climate change and the importance of Copenhagen, but the leaders of
Nokia, Dell, Microsoft and Sony, among others stay silent on the
most urgent issue facing the planet.
Sharp stands out as
the only Japanese company to indicate support for the strong
reduction target of the new Japanese Government. Panasonic, new to
the leaderboard assessment, can increase its score on several
criteria for the next assessment.
The next edition of the
Cool IT leaderboard, with several new companies, will be released
in early 2010
VVPR info: CONTACT: Steve Smith, Fenton Communications
202-465-5352 (cell) or Casey Harrell, Greenpeace, 415 307 3382