Greenpeace: Cisco is Greenest IT Company

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Smart grid technology and solutions for renergy reduction in offices and networks from Cisco Systems have earned the company a top ranking in the latest Cool IT Leaderboard ranking from the environmental group Greenpeace. The leaderboard is based on a composite score reflecting a company's commitment to sustainability in its own footprint, its solutions and its advocacy.“

"Leaders such as Cisco are actively investing in climate solutions, while others are merely signaling  commitments, hoping that lofty words are as good as action,” said Greenpeace Campaigner Casey Harrell. "To play a significant role in helping make sure global greenhouse gas emissions peak by 2015, IT companies need to deliver upon the promise that their technology can provide substantial climate savings today."

Cisco topped the leaderboard with 62 points, followed by Ericsson (53), IBM (42), HP (41), Fujitsu (36), Google (33) and Microsoft (31).

Greenpeace said Ericsson and Fujitsu have developed a strong methodology for measuring net impact of their solutions, and also cited Fujitsu as "the first company to set a credible goal for the overall amount of carbon savings provided to its customers."

Google has been visible in its support of sustainability and renewable energy, but Greenpeace found fault with some areas of its environmental efforts. Google was the top scoring company on political advocacy, as Google CEO Eric Schmidt "has been vocal on the failure of the current political system to get the policies right to drive transformative investment in clean energy technologies," Greenpeace said.

"However, Google has no emission reduction targets, nor does it release or disclose its own emissions," Greenpeace added. "This lack of transparency puts Google significantly out of step with most other technology companies, and weakens its ability to be an effective advocate."