COOL IT CHALLENGE - A Greenpeace campaign to turn IT industry leaders into climate advocates and solution providers. Our planet is on the brink of runaway climate change and the consequences will be catastrophic. Our changing climate affects everyone. The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector creates two percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. That's the bad news. The good news is that its services and products could cut the world's emissions by an estimated 15 percent when applied in industry, buildings, transport and power sectors.

COOL IT CHALLENGE - A Greenpeace campaign to turn IT industry leaders into climate advocates and solution providers.

"Our planet is on the brink of runaway climate change and the consequences will be catastrophic. Our changing climate affects everyone. The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector creates two percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. That's the bad news. The good news is that its services and products could cut the world's emissions by an estimated 15 percent when applied in industry, buildings, transport and power sectors. Smart 2020, A report by The Climate Group on behalf of the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), with independent analysis by McKinsey & Company, has all the details.

Politicians will meet in Copenhagen this December to agree on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. A strong Copenhagen deal will create the right market conditions for a massive roll-out of smart technologies -- the stuff that the IT industry makes. So you might expect IT CEOs to be lobbying governments for a strong deal? Well they're not... yet."

Assessment 1: May 2009
The first results of the Greenpeace Cool IT Challenge expose the IT industry's inadequate leadership in tackling climate change despite its claim to have the immense potential to enable 15 percent cuts or more in all global greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 (Source: Smart2020 Report).

To really deliver on this potential the IT industry needs to look beyond just cutting its own emissions and deliver climate solutions for the rest of the economy while urgently using its influence to call upon world leaders to deliver a climate saving deal at the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December. The Cool IT Challenge will be updated regularly, with the second version debuting in August.