New research based on a survey of more than 8,000 European IT directors and board-level decision makers shows that nearly 40% of respondents would rate their organisation’s green credentials as “not at all good” or even “poor”.

However, only 38% of these same respondents overall said they are actually concerned about their company’s energy usage and carbon footprint, with less than a fifth reporting that they actively seek to purchase environmentally friendly IT products.

The survey, commissioned by data centre networking specialist Brocade, quizzed executives from the UK, France, Germany, Benelux, Italy, Spain, Austria and Switzerland.

The respondents also acknowledged that energy inefficiency was an issue, believing that their companies spend a significant portion of their overall operational expenditures (OpEx) on energy costs. Overall, 44% of the respondents across Europe said that they believe their companies devote up to a quarter of their total OpEx on energy. In the UK, this figure jumps up to nearly half of the respondents. Regardless of the actual sum, however, more than 60% of the overall respondents agreed that the OpEx spend on energy was “too much”.

However, it is not all doom and gloom. Almost two thirds of respondents stated that they are beginning to look at ways of reducing energy output, but that still leaves over a third of European businesses who are not. Italy seems to be trailing Europe in terms of proactivity, while the Germans are flying the green flag the highest with nearly a quarter of respondents saying that they educate employees to be more energy-conscious and buy energy-efficient products.

Overall, more than 75% of respondents stated that they are as likely to look at reducing energy usage in the office as they are at home, suggesting that the work environment is as important to Europeans business leaders as their domestic lives.

Ulrich Plechschmidt, Brocade vice president of EMEA, says: “A lot of the time it’s simply about reviewing one’s IT environment and looking at ways to create greater efficiencies. From our experience, consolidation platforms make it extremely easy for companies to implement and gain greater performance, scalability and cost savings. Reducing the number of physical appliances deployed automatically reduces energy usage, thereby saving money. It’s simple maths.”

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