Carbon cap and trade has already arrived in the EU, and it’s on the Obama administration’s priority list as well (the Obama plan calls for an 80% reduction in greenhouse emissions by 2050).  When (and I believe it’s a question of when, not if) carbon cap and trade arrives in the United States, companies everywhere are going to have to start measuring their carbon emissions to see if they are within their allocated limits.  How ready are companies to take those measurements?

Not very, apparently.  The good folks at Gartner Research have issued a very illuminating report on how prepared IT companies are to measure their carbon outputs.  Gartner conducted a survey back in December of over 600 international companies (U.S., E.U., Australia, India, China), ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 employees, asking about their plans for carbon reporting and pricing, and implementation of carbon reporting and management systems.  The survey revealed that less than 20 percent of companies worldwide are considering carbon pricing.  A little more than a third of respondents responsible for green IT programs said it was possible, or they didn’t know, if carbon pricing was influencing their organization’s planning.  The report can be purchased online for $195.  What do you think, dear reader?  Is there cause for concern here, or are we looking at another Y2K scarefest?

Two hundred bucks a little too rich for you?  Does “Free” fit better into your budget?  I like free, especially if it’s a $499 value and free for only a limited time!  InformationWeek Analytics has published a report, The Eco-Enterprise and the Reality of Green IT.  From the publisher:

The nascent green IT movement is in for some tumultuous times. As the economy slows, there will be an increasing focus on the ROI of all investments, green or otherwise. Meanwhile, the changing of the guard in Washington signals a resurgence of pure green initiatives that unquestionably will add costs, especially those regulating electronic waste and requiring vendors to produce more environmentally friendly systems. These aren't complementary forces. In this report we'll help IT professionals sort out the current green landscape and see where their peers are today, decide where they realistically can be in a year, and look ahead to what's on the horizon.