27 October 2009 - International
— People could some day recall that it was
the Information Technology (IT) industry's
advocacy for strong action which tipped
the balance at the Copenhagen climate summit.
But that's not going to happen unless all
of us press them to become climate champions.
As our updated Cool IT Challenge leaderboard
reveals, IT heavyweights such as Google,
Microsoft and IBM are still hesitating to
speak up on the urgent need for emissions
reductions.
The Information Technology
industry stands to profit significantly
by selling technology solutions to reduce
greenhouse gases, yet most major IT companies
are standing on the sidelines of the climate
debate while the biggest polluting industries
are going all out to weaken or delay climate
legislation.
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on Google, IBM and Microsoft to speak up
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This is most clear in the US where even
weak proposed climate legislation is under
attack from the US Chamber of Commerce.
IT companies are continuing to fund the
Chamber's regressive and destructive stance
on climate issues, even when unaligned with
their own climate policies.
We rank IT leaders as
climate leaders
Google and Panasonic are new on the leaderboard
for this round. They join twelve other big
names from the Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) sector, from the US, Europe
and Japan. IBM (43), HP (42), Fujitsu (33)
and Google (32) occupy the top four places.
We award points for companies who can demonstrate
clear public support for strong emissions
reductions; have measurable, economy-wide
climate solutions; and for reducing their
own emissions.
IT Executives: Get on
your soap boxes!
Half the points in the Cool IT Challenge
can be scored for providing details on how
a company's climate solutions can show reductions
in overall emissions. But the UN climate
conference in Copenhagen is only weeks away,
and climate legislation is struggling to
make its way through the US Congress. The
biggest names in IT need to get out and
advocate for strong climate legislation
now. Without strong legislation, we won't
stand a chance of tackling global warming.
Even though the IT industry
will profit from strong emissions reduction
targets, the fact that no company yet scores
more than half marks shows that the IT industry
still has much work to do to match its climate
words with climate action.
Scoring in detail
The scoring goes as follows: 50 points are
available for providing calculations of
how large-scale climate solutions from the
IT industry actually reduce net greenhouse
gas emissions. Another 15 points can be
earned for a company's commitment to reduce
absolute greenhouse gas emissions from its
own operations and for the amount of renewable
energy used as a percentage of total electricity.
35 points are awarded in relation to a strong
stance on climate issues and political advocacy.
Lastly, a key scoring criteria on the leaderboard
is clear public support for strong emission
reductions.
Political Advocacy is
split in two parts – political position
and political influence. An IT company can
use its considerable influence to show CEO-level
support for strong global climate legislation.
If a CEO makes a public speech supporting
the call for strong, mandatory emissions
reduction targets, the company scores points.
If the company then follows up with advocacy
work to push for the specific level of emissions
cuts, it earns more points. And if the company
repeats that speech and advocacy work, it
earns even more points. Hearing this stuff
once isn't enough for some politicians.
Sounds reasonable, but
sadly, only Google, with 24/35 climate advocacy
points, passed the halfway mark. Despite
this relatively strong score, Google's CEO
has been silent on Copenhagen, when Google
could be a powerful positive voice for a
strong deal.
Other firms are stepping
out
Apple's recent bold move to leave the US
Chamber of Commerce over the Chamber's lobbying
against US climate legislation contrasts
strongly with Google, Microsoft and IBM's
relative inaction at this crucial juncture
for the climate.
The CEO of Ericsson
has been making prominent speeches on the
urgency of the problem 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.
Simply: We call on them,
then they call on the politicians
But not all is bad, since the last assessment
in May, there has been some progress. While
IBM maintains top spot on the leaderboard
due to an extensive range of climate solutions
and action to reduce its own emissions,
HP is following closely and has shown strong
progress by providing more comprehensive
information on how its climate solutions
can reduce global emissions.
Toshiba also significantly
increases it score by providing much more
information on its climate solutions. Sharp
stands out as the only Japanese company
to indicate support for the stronger emissions
reduction target of the new Japanese Government.
With their powerful
influence, IT giants like Microsoft, Google
and IBM need to speak up. The Cool IT leaderboard
exposes the gap between what the IT industry
could do to fight climate change, and what
they're actually doing today. Clearly, more
can be done.
