More and more companies are putting in place IT programs to monitor and reduce energy use and rein in carbon emissions, according to a Deloitte survey.

Sixty-seven per cent of companies had implemented IT systems to monitor environmental performance.

Efforts to reduce carbon footprints are being driven by rising energy prices and impending greenhosue gas regulation.

The IT sector is as energy hungry as aviation, accounting for two per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

It takes as much electricity to power a medium-sized UK data centre as it does for a city roughly the size of Leicester.

The Carbon Reduction Commitment, announced in the 2007 Energy White Paper, will oblige a host of companies to have established emissions-reduction strategies.