Technology & the Green Council

Building on our sister publication, LGITU’s, research in to the greening of the council ICT estate, ‘Green Veneer or Green Revolution?’, UKauthorITy.com is creating a resource centre for local authority officers working towards greening their council ICT estate or using technology to help their council reduce carbon emissions.

Core information, news and resources encountered during the research - along with the research itself - are collated in this section. We are asking officers for suggestions of what further resources can be included:

  • What online resources have you found useful?
  • What pilots have you tried? What works – and what doesn’t?
  • How is your council embedding, and tracking, a green ethos throughout the organisation?

The aim is to create an area where reports and links to other resources that you have found useful can be pooled, alongside a database of case studies and examples that can be used as a means of sharing best practice and experience.

Please forward all suggestions relating to council examples and useful resources to Helen Olsen: Helen@infopub.co.uk 

Source: 359 officers from 219 authorities (47% of the UK’s 468 local authorities)
See box to right to download full report or executive summary.

Key Findings:

  • 95.9% say green issues of central or some importance to wider strategy
  • 87% see IT as a key enabler of sustainability, council-wide
  • 89% see ‘seeking cost savings’ as a driver for green initiatives
  • Only 4% believe their IT estate will be carbon neutral within 4 years
  • Green important within the regeneration/place shaping, transformation and efficiency agendas
  • Lack of resources and priority are key barriers to going green
  • Embedding green within corporate strategy and dedicating resources are key enablers for success
  • Green drivers more local than central
  • Head of IT / CIO appears to have little role in green outside own department
  • Heads of Finance do not appear engaged 
  •  50% are tracking and measuring sustainability
  • Just 33% are using carbon footprint calculations, and only 6% use a green house gas protocol accounting tool

Green initiatives under way:

  • 42% specifying ‘Green’ in tender process
  • 74.5% mobile & flexible working
  • 57% purchasing energy efficient desktops
  • 47% through technology refresh
  • 42.5% implementing thin client computing
  • 38% utilising virtualisation technology
  • 38% enforcing power down
  • 33.5% using videoconferencing
  • 9% rolling out telehealth
  • 9% using a green scorecard
Download green report
Download executive summary