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The majority of public sector employees 'don't know about environmentally-friendly IT'

The government recently set out targets within the Greening Government ICT Strategy, which calls for government IT to be carbon neutral by 2012, with office carbon emissions down 11.5% by 2011.

A new report, The Path to Green Government, was produced by Global Action Plan and commissioned by Cisco. It found that 60% of respondents were not aware of the government’s strategy, with 41% admitting it covers their area of work.

It is estimated that ICT accounts for one-fifth of the government's carbon emissions. A large proportion of carbon emissions can be attributed to the manufacture of new equipment, so a principal focus of the initiative is to make the best use of existing equipment.

Nearly one-third of respondents said that they had made no changes to their own ICT usage and procurement and had no plans to make any such changes. The problem, according to Global Action Plan director Trewin Restorick, is poor collaboration and knowledge sharing across the sector.

Frank Tudor, Director of Supplier Management, Department for Work and Pensions, is set to share his experiences of green IT and supplier management on 15 September when he speaks at Government ICT Goes Green 09.

The event will also feature appearances from Jonathon Porritt, Founder Director of Forum for the Future; Shelley Chuong, Director of Strategy, Transformational Government, Cabinet Office; Catalina McGregor, Founder and Chair CIO/CTO Council Green ICT Delivery Group; Chris Chant, Government Champion Green ICT; and Jos Creese, Chair of the Local Government CIO Council, Head of IT Hampshire County Council and Vice President, Socitm.