In a telephone briefing Monday, Philip Carter, associate research director at IDC Asia-Pacific, noted that about 26 percent of respondents in some countries had indicated that being green was "very important" in the research firm's 3rd annual Green IT and Sustainability Survey.
Conducted in August, the poll involved 450 organizations of varying sizes across the region.
Carter, who also heads up IDC's green IT & sustainability research in the region, added that senior management was also likely to lead the green charge. Over in Australia and Japan, for example, C-level executives including CEOs and CIOs were identified as responsible for green efforts and initiatives, while in China, the burden was on IT management.
The study also shed light on three broad areas respondents indicated they would like some help in: measuring and monitoring of energy consumption, planning and design of a green IT project, particularly in context of developing metrics, and services associated with videoconferencing.
As for the reason why more are embracing green IT, the survey showed that 60 percent of respondents in the region stated cost of energy to be the primary driving force, while recycling of most IT assets were also found to lack accountability, whether conducted in-house or outsourced to a third-party, noted Carter.
Asia key piece to carbon reduction puzzle
During the briefing, Carter reiterated that the region played a significant role in helping to reduce greenhouse gases within the next decade.
According to IDC's G20 ICT Sustainability Index released last week at the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15) in Copenhagen, the region's economies are expected to play a big role in the reduction of carbon emissions worldwide. The research firm predicted the six Asia-Pacific markets in the G20--Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan and Korea--will contribute 41.4 percent, or 2.4 billion tons of a targeted 5.8 billion tons decrease brought about by the use of ICT-based products and services, by 2020.
Japan, said Carter, has the highest potential amongst the G20 nations to lower carbon levels using 17 technologies highlighted by IDC, including smart grids and energy management systems.
China, on the other hand, had the potential to reduce about 1.4 billion tons of carbon emission by 2020--a significant proportion by a single economy.
Carter added that going forward, policy makers in the countries need to invest "a significant amount of time" to providing incentives and "to a certain extent, regulation where possible, for the great usage of ICT in their jurisdictions".