The results of an assessment of 28 global information and communication technology (ICT) providers by Gartner, Inc. and WWF Sweden revealed that the ICT industry sees climate change and sustainability as an emerging opportunity. While it identified the emergence of a group of market makers, the industry as a whole fell short of making climate change and sustainability part of its core business.
"2009 and 2010 have seen rapid progress in the maturity of ICT vendors both in terms of their internal environmental programmes, and the development of a set of low-carbon market offerings," said Simon Mingay, research vice president at Gartner. "We now have a clear group of market makers formed by BT, IBM, Cisco, Ericsson, HP, Fujitsu, and SAP who we believe are 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."
Gartner and WWF invited 28 global ICT providers* to participate. Nineteen chose to participate by providing the required information. Those companies include: Accenture, Alcatel-Lucent, BT, CSC, Cisco, Dell, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Microsoft, SAP, Sun Microsystems**, TCS, Verizon, Wipro and Xerox.
The survey, the second of its kind, examined ICT providers' commitment to managing the environmental aspects of their internal operations and their supply chain. Very importantly, it also explored their capabilities in advancing the low-carbon solutions markets and developing products and services that will help them and their customers reduce their greenhouse gas emissions or increase their energy efficiency.
"The good news is that we don't see anyone going backwards," said Mr Mingay. "But, across every category*** there are clearly a group who are on the move and a group who seem to be treading water relatively." IBM, Fujitsu, HP, Cisco and BT ranked in the top five positions, while others such as Verizon and Lenovo did not score particularly well, and held the No. 19 and No. 17 spots, respectively. Mr Mingay said Microsoft, ranked in the No. 13 position overall, is making reasonable progress, from a relatively weak starting point.
The survey revealed that service and software providers have improved their position from 2008, but remain relatively immature in terms of both their internal programmes, as well as their market offerings. SAP, ranked No. 8 overall, did substantially better than any of the other large software and services organisations. SAP has put sustainability at the heart of its communications and closer to its strategy over the last 18 months. The survey also found that Fujitsu, ranked No. 2, is the only ICT provider 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. Fujitsu has set itself a carbon reduction goal in terms of its impact on its customers versus a target related to their own emissions. Finally, ICT providers in Asia (not Japan) are still lagging overall, but making some dramatic improvements, which Gartner analysts anticipate will continue.
The dominance of talking in 2008, when Gartner and WWF Sweden completed their first assessment has evolved into much more action in 2009 and 2010. "We now have a number of ICT providers with an actual low carbon portfolio and a readiness to move from an incremental contribution into the centre stage when it comes to providing society with low carbon solutions," said Magnus Emfel, director of Climate Programme, WWF Sweden. "It is precisely this shift - from ICT as a minor contributor to global emissions to a major enabler of low-carbon solutions - that we need to see replicated in business strategies and urban planning, if we are to succeed in the transition to a low carbon economy and stabilise the climate."
The survey also found that inter-industry partnerships are starting to emerge, particularly from ICT providers including Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent and IBM. This is a very significant and important step in ICT's ability to develop commercially viable solutions for a low-carbon economy, particularly around smart grid, intelligent buildings and smart city infrastructures.
When looking at ICT's own impact, and the focus on the 2 per cent of ICT's global CO2 emissions, it has become evident that hardware vendors, such as HP, Ericsson and Fujitsu are increasingly focused on the energy efficiency of their equipment and making it a core business, while for software and services organisations this is not the case. Very few vendors are thinking about dematerialisation in any real systematic way, though Xerox is one of the few exceptions that is reusing and recycling parts.
Collectively the ICT industry has enhanced its game in terms of providing solutions in other areas, e.g. transport and buildings, to help reduce the 98 per cent of global CO2 emissions that are not generated by ICT, but that can be reduced with the help of smart ICT.
"Although the leaders in the Carbon Delivery sections such as IBM, Fujitsu, HP, BT, Ericsson and Cisco have begun to build structural capabilities, governance, and allocated organisational resources to addressing the opportunities of a low-carbon economy, their commitment still falls short of being integrated into their core business," Mr Mingay said.
Gartner's client interactions and analysis of the survey suggests this is due to a lack of spending on low-carbon and sustainability-related solutions by the public and private sectors, except in the area of smart grids, but also to the ICT sector's conservative approach built on incremental changes in existing technologies and capacity.
"We were surprised at the lack of disruptive innovation, with the majority of responses essentially focused on the incremental 'client-driven' development," said Dennis Pamlin, co-author and independent consultant working for WWF Sweden on this project. "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."
"No one is making any serious effort to extend the life of equipment beyond the basics one would expect of improving reliability and quality," said Mr Mingay. "But, with the management of e-waste and rare earth metals rapidly turning into a substantial global challenge and the growth of emerging markets the industry needs to be giving much more serious thought to dematerialisation, recycling and longevity."
Additional information is available in the research note "Summary Report: Low-Carbon and Environmental Leadership in the ICT Industry by Gartner and WWF, 2010." The report is available on Gartner's website at http://www.gartner.com/....
A video that highlights additional views from Mr Mingay is available at http://www.youtube.com/....
Mr Mingay will present the Gartner sustainability scenario at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2010, being held on 8-11 November in Cannes, France. For more information about the event please visit www.gartner.com/eu/symposium.
Note to editors:
* It is fair to compare and contrast similar organisations that are organisations in the same sector. However, it is not sensible to directly compare organizations that are in different sectors.
** Sun Micosystems were invited to participate prior to the closure of the acquisition by Oracle, and were assessed as the organisational entity that was Sun Microsystems. Oracle was invited to participate but declined.
*** The framework of the survey had six sections: Environmental basics, supply chain basics, carbon basics, carbon communications, carbon delivery today and carbon delivery tomorrow. The first three are looking at how providers run their internal operations and their supply chain. The remaining three are looking at their approach to developing the low-carbon solutions market, the development of products and services that will help their customers reduce their emissions or increase their energy efficiency, and their approach to influencing national and international policies.
About Gartner Symposium/ITxpo
Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Gartner Symposium/ITxpo is the world's most important gathering of CIOs and senior IT executives. This event delivers independent and objective content with the authority and weight of the world's leading IT research and advisory organization, and provides access to the latest solutions from key technology providers. Gartner's annual Symposium/ITxpo events are key components of attendees' annual planning efforts. IT executives rely on Gartner Symposium/ITxpo to gain insight into how their organizations can use IT to address business challenges and improve operational efficiency. Additional information is available at www.gartner.com/eu/symposium. Members of the media can register for the event by contacting Laurence Goasduff at laurence.goasduff@gartner.com.
Additional information from the event will be shared on Twitter at http://twitter.com/... and using #GartnerSym.
About WWF
WWF is one of the world's largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with almost 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. For the latest news and media resources, visit www.wwf.panda.org.
"2009 and 2010 have seen rapid progress in the maturity of ICT vendors both in terms of their internal environmental programmes, and the development of a set of low-carbon market offerings," said Simon Mingay, research vice president at Gartner. "We now have a clear group of market makers formed by BT, IBM, Cisco, Ericsson, HP, Fujitsu, and SAP who we believe are 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."
Gartner and WWF invited 28 global ICT providers* to participate. Nineteen chose to participate by providing the required information. Those companies include: Accenture, Alcatel-Lucent, BT, CSC, Cisco, Dell, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Microsoft, SAP, Sun Microsystems**, TCS, Verizon, Wipro and Xerox.
The survey, the second of its kind, examined ICT providers' commitment to managing the environmental aspects of their internal operations and their supply chain. Very importantly, it also explored their capabilities in advancing the low-carbon solutions markets and developing products and services that will help them and their customers reduce their greenhouse gas emissions or increase their energy efficiency.
"The good news is that we don't see anyone going backwards," said Mr Mingay. "But, across every category*** there are clearly a group who are on the move and a group who seem to be treading water relatively." IBM, Fujitsu, HP, Cisco and BT ranked in the top five positions, while others such as Verizon and Lenovo did not score particularly well, and held the No. 19 and No. 17 spots, respectively. Mr Mingay said Microsoft, ranked in the No. 13 position overall, is making reasonable progress, from a relatively weak starting point.
The survey revealed that service and software providers have improved their position from 2008, but remain relatively immature in terms of both their internal programmes, as well as their market offerings. SAP, ranked No. 8 overall, did substantially better than any of the other large software and services organisations. SAP has put sustainability at the heart of its communications and closer to its strategy over the last 18 months. The survey also found that Fujitsu, ranked No. 2, is the only ICT provider 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. Fujitsu has set itself a carbon reduction goal in terms of its impact on its customers versus a target related to their own emissions. Finally, ICT providers in Asia (not Japan) are still lagging overall, but making some dramatic improvements, which Gartner analysts anticipate will continue.
The dominance of talking in 2008, when Gartner and WWF Sweden completed their first assessment has evolved into much more action in 2009 and 2010. "We now have a number of ICT providers with an actual low carbon portfolio and a readiness to move from an incremental contribution into the centre stage when it comes to providing society with low carbon solutions," said Magnus Emfel, director of Climate Programme, WWF Sweden. "It is precisely this shift - from ICT as a minor contributor to global emissions to a major enabler of low-carbon solutions - that we need to see replicated in business strategies and urban planning, if we are to succeed in the transition to a low carbon economy and stabilise the climate."
The survey also found that inter-industry partnerships are starting to emerge, particularly from ICT providers including Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent and IBM. This is a very significant and important step in ICT's ability to develop commercially viable solutions for a low-carbon economy, particularly around smart grid, intelligent buildings and smart city infrastructures.
When looking at ICT's own impact, and the focus on the 2 per cent of ICT's global CO2 emissions, it has become evident that hardware vendors, such as HP, Ericsson and Fujitsu are increasingly focused on the energy efficiency of their equipment and making it a core business, while for software and services organisations this is not the case. Very few vendors are thinking about dematerialisation in any real systematic way, though Xerox is one of the few exceptions that is reusing and recycling parts.
Collectively the ICT industry has enhanced its game in terms of providing solutions in other areas, e.g. transport and buildings, to help reduce the 98 per cent of global CO2 emissions that are not generated by ICT, but that can be reduced with the help of smart ICT.
"Although the leaders in the Carbon Delivery sections such as IBM, Fujitsu, HP, BT, Ericsson and Cisco have begun to build structural capabilities, governance, and allocated organisational resources to addressing the opportunities of a low-carbon economy, their commitment still falls short of being integrated into their core business," Mr Mingay said.
Gartner's client interactions and analysis of the survey suggests this is due to a lack of spending on low-carbon and sustainability-related solutions by the public and private sectors, except in the area of smart grids, but also to the ICT sector's conservative approach built on incremental changes in existing technologies and capacity.
"We were surprised at the lack of disruptive innovation, with the majority of responses essentially focused on the incremental 'client-driven' development," said Dennis Pamlin, co-author and independent consultant working for WWF Sweden on this project. "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."
"No one is making any serious effort to extend the life of equipment beyond the basics one would expect of improving reliability and quality," said Mr Mingay. "But, with the management of e-waste and rare earth metals rapidly turning into a substantial global challenge and the growth of emerging markets the industry needs to be giving much more serious thought to dematerialisation, recycling and longevity."
Additional information is available in the research note "Summary Report: Low-Carbon and Environmental Leadership in the ICT Industry by Gartner and WWF, 2010." The report is available on Gartner's website at http://www.gartner.com/....
A video that highlights additional views from Mr Mingay is available at http://www.youtube.com/....
Mr Mingay will present the Gartner sustainability scenario at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2010, being held on 8-11 November in Cannes, France. For more information about the event please visit www.gartner.com/eu/symposium.
Note to editors:
* It is fair to compare and contrast similar organisations that are organisations in the same sector. However, it is not sensible to directly compare organizations that are in different sectors.
** Sun Micosystems were invited to participate prior to the closure of the acquisition by Oracle, and were assessed as the organisational entity that was Sun Microsystems. Oracle was invited to participate but declined.
*** The framework of the survey had six sections: Environmental basics, supply chain basics, carbon basics, carbon communications, carbon delivery today and carbon delivery tomorrow. The first three are looking at how providers run their internal operations and their supply chain. The remaining three are looking at their approach to developing the low-carbon solutions market, the development of products and services that will help their customers reduce their emissions or increase their energy efficiency, and their approach to influencing national and international policies.
About Gartner Symposium/ITxpo
Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Gartner Symposium/ITxpo is the world's most important gathering of CIOs and senior IT executives. This event delivers independent and objective content with the authority and weight of the world's leading IT research and advisory organization, and provides access to the latest solutions from key technology providers. Gartner's annual Symposium/ITxpo events are key components of attendees' annual planning efforts. IT executives rely on Gartner Symposium/ITxpo to gain insight into how their organizations can use IT to address business challenges and improve operational efficiency. Additional information is available at www.gartner.com/eu/symposium. Members of the media can register for the event by contacting Laurence Goasduff at laurence.goasduff@gartner.com.
Additional information from the event will be shared on Twitter at http://twitter.com/... and using #GartnerSym.
About WWF
WWF is one of the world's largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with almost 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. For the latest news and media resources, visit www.wwf.panda.org.
