Vendor Summary

From Lauraibm

Accenture

Accenture gives a rounded description of its environmental policies and metrics, quoting examples from around the world: Spain, Bangalore, Brazil, Japan, Manila and the UK. It aims to drive change through its role as supplier, customer and employer.

The UK entry is comprehensive, if in parts trivial. (How important is it for us to know that Accenture's staff canteen stocks Fairtrade products and that Accenture uses a special purifier of mains water to avoid having to buy copious bottled water?)

The UK entry also contains details of the amount of paper Accenture uses, how many flights it books, the fact that each workstation generated 94 kg of waste in FY06, its recycling of old office furniture to Remploy etc, and its commitment to continuous improvement.

BT

BT makes a very open statement of its many environmental targets, and also lists its achievements and awards received to date. Of course, in the absence of any form of audit by a third party, whether BT actually achieves these targets will be unverifiable by any outsider. And many of its targets and achievements appear to make no allowance for acquisitions and divestments, which could make a significant difference to the environmental damage caused by BT.

But this is nit-picking. There is much to be admired in BT's frankness, and IBM should be concerned as a competitor by BT's description of its envirnomental work with customers such as Marks & Spencer and British Gas, and of the 10 data centre audits it has conducted, and of its Carbon Audit service for business customers.