Green IT agenda a top priority for governments

Peter Dinham
Monday, 13 April 2009 13:57

Business IT - Technology

In the midst of the world financial crisis, green IT still remains a top priority on the IT agenda of governments and is growing in importance for the public sector, according to a report released by Ovum after the recent G20 summit in London.

According to Ovum, one of the strongest messages for S/ITS suppliers from the G20 summit is the growing importance to governments of green IT, with the governments having signed up to making “the transition towards clean, innovative, resource efficient, low carbon technologies and infrastructure.”

Tola Sargeant, leader of the geographies & industries practice at Ovum, says that although the G20 communiqué was dominated by talk of repairing the financial system and strengthening financial regulation, the need to “build an inclusive, green and sustainable recovery” still got a mention – albeit in the last two paragraphs of the document.

Sargeant says that, even if suppliers tend to think statements like these are empty rhetoric, S/ITS suppliers targeting the public sector will benefit from a strong green IT agenda – particularly, as Ovum has said before, “if it can be shown to cut costs at the same time.”

“Technologies such as video conferencing, cloud computing and virtualisation could be winners in the longer term as a result. There is also an opportunity for software suppliers to provide versions of their back-office applications which support mobile and flexible working.”

According to Sargeant, the evidence suggests that most countries are now taking the threat of climate change seriously, with many incorporating green measures into their recovery plans.

“The US government, for example, has had a significant change of heart and has allocated US$100 billion or 13% of its stimulus package to green measures. The green portion of the EU recovery plan is 14% but China is allocating about a third of its US$580 billion recovery plan to green measures, with energy efficiency its main focus.”
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