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Special Report

Putting the Greening of ICT in Context
While the articles from our sponsoring contributors look at ways to minimise the impact of ICT use on the environment, Wired-Gov has compiled a ‘round-up’ of the various press releases, policies, strategies, statements, tips, etc. that have been published by our key stakeholders across government and the public sector over the last 3 years in response to challenge of needing to Green ICT.

While there is (understandably) a certain element of duplication, we hope that they (and other links provided) will form a useful source of information:


Cabinet Office and Chief Information Officer Council (CIOC)

Cabinet Office: Information on who will lead (April 2006)
Jim Murphy, Cabinet Office Minister, announced the appointment of John Suffolk as the Government Chief Information Officer (CIO). John leads the work of the CIO Council in delivering the Government's strategy for the transformation of public services, enabled by technology. He reports to Ian Watmore, the Head of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit and former Government CIO. 

John Suffolk’s role is to:
* provide leadership to the IT Profession across the wider public sector
* enable public service transformation through the strategic deployment of technology
* drive the development of shared services and 
* act as the 'face' of UK Government IT both home & abroad
 
The CIO Council brings together CIOs from across all parts of the public sector to address common issues.
Press release ~ CIO website ~ Transformational Government ~ Shared Services ~ Prime Minister's Delivery Unit ~ CIO Members


Greening Government ICT (July 2008)
Under a plan announced by Cabinet Office Minister, Tom Watson, the Government said that it aimed to make energy consumption of ICT carbon neutral within four years.  At the time, information & communication technology (ICT) was responsible for up to 20% of carbon emissions generated by Government offices - around 460,000 tonnes a year.

Departments were be asked to take 18 key steps, including:
* Automatically switching off desktop computers outside working hours
* Reusing as much computer equipment as possible
* Auditing our data centres and server use to make sure they are running at maximum efficiency
Press release ~ Tom Watson launch speech on Greening Government ICT ~ Greening Government ICT - Efficient, Sustainable, Responsible ~ Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) ~ Sustainable Development in Government Report '07 ~ Computer industry trade body Intellect


Greening Government ICT - CIOC 
Following the publication of Greening Government ICT: Efficient, Sustainable, Responsible, the government had two aims, to make: 
* energy consumption of our ICT systems carbon neutral by 2012, and 
* them carbon neutral across their lifetime (including manufacture and disposal) by 2020

The strategy asked for immediate action, with simple steps implemented straight away.
CIO Green ICT Roadmap Template 2009 ~ The Sustainable IT Transformation Roadmap ~ ISEB Foundation Certificate in Green IT ~ Areas for Potential Carbon Reduction ~ Green ICT SOGE Map ~ Sustainable Procurement Charter


Department of Energy and Climate Change 

New independent research by Innovas - 'Low Carbon and Environmental Goods and Services: an industry analysis' - shows:
* The UK is already the 6th largest low carbon and environmental goods & services (LCEGS) economy
* In 2007/8 it was worth £107bn to the UK economy, and could grow by another £45bn over the next decade
* There are already over 880,000 jobs in the LCEGS sector when the supply chain is included
* If employment grows at projected rates, an additional 400,000 jobs could be created in the next decade
* 31% of overall activity is in manufacturing
* The global market for the LCEGS sector is estimated to be worth £3 trillion

A new pamphlet - 'Low Carbon Industrial Strategy: a Vision' - highlights a range of companies in the UK already taking advantage of low carbon opportunity and sets out the scope & ambition of the Government's plans.  Businesses and others with an interest are asked for their input through a new interactive website to inform a final Strategy to be published before the summer.
Press release ~ Interactive website


Defra 

Encouraging individuals to tackle climate change and take up greener lifestyles (December 2006)
Measures to help individuals tackle climate change and adopt greener lifestyles were unveiled by the Government including the launch of an on-line ‘guide to greener living’ on Directgov, which is designed to help people who want to find out what they can do in their everyday lives to tackle climate change and other environmental issues.

The guide includes actions that can be taken covering the home, shopping, travel, food & drink, waste & recycling, energy & water saving, gardening, as well as being green in the workplace, school and community.
Press release ~ Online guide to greener living ~ Carbon Neutral Company ~ Sustainable Development Commission ~ EU ManagEnergy 


Saving the world by design (October 2008)
A new standard, called PAS 2050 and launched by BSI British Standards, the Carbon Trust and Defra will help businesses fight global warming.  The standard is a consistent way of counting the greenhouse gas emissions embedded in goods & services throughout their entire life cycle - from sourcing raw materials, through to manufacture, distribution, use and disposal.

The aim of the new standard is to help businesses move beyond managing the emissions their own processes create and to look at the opportunities for reducing emissions in the design, making & supplying of products.  This will then hopefully help businesses make goods or services which are less carbon intensive and ultimately develop new products with lower carbon footprints.
Press release ~ Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2050 ~ Carbon Trust Carbon Reduction Label ~ Defra – Carbon Footprint ~ Methods report to support the PAS for the calculations for the calculation of the embodied greenhouse gas emissions of goods and services ~ Saving Carbon, Improving Health: A Carbon Reduction Strategy for the NHS in England ~ Improving the efficiency of central government's office property ~ Carbon Trust Standard ~ Carbon Trust’s Research and Technology Accelerators ~ Environment and greener living : Directgov ~ International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP) ~ The Right Climate for Change - Using the Carbon Footprint to reduce CO2 emissions - a guide for local authorities ~ Towards a low footprint Scotland


Real help now: saving money - It's your business (February 2009)
The government has launched a new campaign to promote the cost-free steps businesses can take to help reduce their environmental impact and save them money.

The recently launched Real Help for Businesses Now campaign features a new list of top ten tips compiled by Defra and the Department for Energy and Climate Change and designed to help small firms take immediate steps to cut their environmental footprint.
Press release ~ Top ten tips


Socitm 

ICT has poor Green Credentials (Nov. 2007)
Contrary to popular belief, ICT has poor ‘green’ credentials, accounting for some 2% of global CO2 emissions – the same amount as that of the airline industry. 

However, ICT also has significant potential to reduce its own environmental impact from equipment manufacture, use of electricity and so on, as well as helping organisations become greener though adoption of practices like flexible working and increased efficiencies in business processes. 

These issues are set out in Green ICT?: current research into the environmental impact of ICT, a report from Socitm Insight which also provides a practical guide for IT managers who want to move towards greener practices within their own department as well as using ICT to reduce the organisation’s overall environmental impact.

The report provides:
* an introduction to how ICT impacts upon the environment (in all stages of the equipment lifecycle)
* information about how to measure environmental impact, and ideas for its mitigation
* case studies of organisations that have used ICT to reduce the environmental impact of the organisation.
Press release ~ Green ICT?: current research into the environmental impact of ICT


Other recommended links from or related to Socitm
Green IT, pragmatism & strategy - Richard Steel, Society of IT Management (SOCITM) President, CIO London Borough of Newham ~ Green Veneer or Green Revolution? Greening the local authority ICT estate ~ Green ICT – taking the strategic approach ~ ICT procurement ~ The Green Agenda, Chris Head Henley Management College and SOCITM Researcher ~ IBM - What are enterprises doing about Green IT? ~ Sustainability in IT ~ The Virtues and Vices of Virtualisation


OGC

Green Power for Offices at no Premium (June 2007)
The UK public sector has access to green electricity at no premium, thanks to an innovative deal signed by the OGC. The deal, worth around £1bn over four years, guarantees central & local government customers one terrawatt hour of electricity from renewable sources - equivalent to 33% of current volumes - until at least 2011.

Sustainability targets called for central government departments to be sourcing at least 10% of their electricity from renewable sources by March 2008.

Unlike previous arrangements, under this deal buying green energy is no more expensive than buying "brown" (non-renewable) energy and paying the associated climate change levy.
Press release ~ Saving Money on Energy ~ Pan Government Energy Project ~ Power Factor Correction and Capacity Matching


Other links
Centre of Expertise for Sustainable Procurement ~ Sustainable Procurement and Operations on the Government Estate ~ Buy green and make a difference


Miscellaneous Sources

Government Departments Are Failing On Green Issues (June 2007)
Research published by the independent research organisation Labour Research Department (LRD) claimed that government departments and agencies are failing to put into place measures to combat climate change such as energy efficiency and recycling schemes.

Representatives and activists from government's largest civil service trade union, the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) formed the largest number of respondents (25%) to the survey on unions and the environment carried out by LRD earlier this year.

The research found that in workplaces where PCS organises:
* 43% of those responding to the survey said that the employer had done nothing to cut down on waste or minimise their use of resources, and
* over a quarter (26%) of employers had done nothing to promote energy efficiency
LRD Press release ~ Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) ~ Sustainable Development in Government 2006 ~ (EDM 1125) ~ First Steps to a Greener Workplace: A TUC guide


The Virtuous Circle (June 2008)
The ICT & Environment workstream report entitled 'Driving the Virtuous Circle - how ICT can enable the carbon effective organisation' makes a number of recommendations for leaders of private and public sector organisations about the greening of ICT and the role of ICT as an enabler of carbon reduction.

Its purpose is to encourage industry and government leaders to act to build ‘carbon effectiveness’ into the strategies and business model of their organisations.  The report is available for download below.
Virtuous Circle Report


Other links
Carbon Trust – Office Equipment ~ CLAW - Office Accommodation Energy Awareness ~ FOE Scotland – Greening the Office Audit ~ ICTrees ~ Smarter bytes, slimmer footprints ~ Dematerial world ~ SustainIT ~ EC - How Green is your Public Procurement ? ~ Intelligent Energy Europe ~ EU Green Public Procurement Training Toolkit ~ EU requirements for Workstations ~ Desktop Computers ~ Computer Monitors ~ Laptop Computers ~ Inkjet MFDs ~ Laser MFDs ~ Inkjet Printers ~ Laser Printers ~ Scanners ~ External Power Supplies ~ Air Conditioning Units
    

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