IBM, Fujitsu, HP, Cisco and BT have taken the top five spots in a Gartner survey of ICT firms’ green credentials.
But the research firm says its third annual survey of ICT companies found that the sector has not integrated sustainability solutions and practices into the core of its business strategy.
Gartner said the survey of 19 global providers showed the industry saw climate change and sustainability as an emerging opportunity, but has largely failed to make it part of their core business.
Simon Mingay, research vice president, said leaders including BT, IBM, Cisco, Ericsson, HP, Fujitsu, and SAP were beginning to build a distinguishing capability. “However, at this stage they have not really taken the issues associated with climate change and sustainability into the core of the business and their strategies, and they continue to deal with it within the mindset of incremental improvement and short-termism.”
That view is echoed by Dennis Pamlin, co-author and a consultant working for WWF Sweden, who is “surprised at the lack of disruptive innovation, with the majority of responses essentially focused on the incremental 'client-driven' development.
“If the ICT industry is to deliver on its promise of making a significant contribution to enabling a transformation to a low-carbon economy it is going to require substantially more than marginal incrementalism,” he said.
The survey showed that service and software providers have improved their position from the first survey in 2008, but remain relatively immature in terms of both their internal programs, as well as their market offerings.
Fujitsu, ranked second, was the only company to set a long-term context to its initiatives, and want to help reduce more emissions in society through low carbon IT solutions than their own emissions.
The survey also found that inter-industry partnerships are starting to emerge, particularly from ICT providers including Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent and IBM.
Verizon took bottom spot in the poll, with Lenovo ranked third from last.