Some UK IT and telecoms firms are “kicking the carbon emissions can down the road”, new research from Schneider Electric has claimed.
According to the energy management vendor’s survey of 1,500 leaders at large UK organisations, some 83% of IT and telecoms business leaders think the energy crisis will impact their organisation’s ability to meet emissions reduction plans.
Of that figure, 44% said they are delaying planned investment in sustainability and net zero plans.
Business leaders do still generally believe in their climate change ambitions, however, the research indicated.
Some 39% of the IT and telecoms leaders questioned said that climate change and net zero ambitions will become more of a priority over the next three years. And only 14% said they believe that national net zero commitments will be diluted in that time.
“Business leaders tell us that the energy crisis should be seen alongside the many other challenges they have faced over the last twelve months, including economic pressures, cyber security and skills shortages,” said Kelly Becker, Zone President, Schneider Electric UK and Ireland (pictured above).
“Yet our research suggests that some of the UK and Ireland’s IT and telecommunications firms are ‘kicking the carbon emissions can down the road’, as a result of the energy crisis.”
Becker added: “It’s not all doom and gloom: as our research shows, business leaders still believe in their climate change ambitions – they simply need to push the subject back up the corporate agenda”.
