Only a third of the UK population have used the internet to research environmental information and only one in six have tried to calculate their carbon footprint online, according to research from BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.
The research results suggest that Britons are not using the internet to reduce their carbon footprint and that the majority could do more to understand and manage their environmental impact.
Elizabeth Sparrow, President, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, said: “Considering the high profile of climate change, it is surprising more people aren’t actively seeking out and using environmental information to make decisions about purchases or their own lifestyles. In other areas of their lives, people are more information ‘savvy’.”
The research, commissioned as part of the Institute’s Savvy Citizens campaign, suggests that the public is becoming increasingly sophisticated in its use of information in some areas such as commerce, but that they are still lagging behind in others, most notably the environment.
While over three in five have used a price comparison website, just one in six have calculated their carbon footprint online.
This equates to around 50 million people in the UK that are unaware of what their carbon footprint is, despite the fact that understanding your individual impact is arguably the first step in moderating behaviour.
The Savvy Citizens campaign seeks to inform the public as to the benefits of information and information technology, so that citizens can better use and manage information.
The main focus of the campaign is the savvycitizens.bcs.org website which will cover a number of topics one of which will be the environment which will feature in the New Year, but the public can make use of the resources signposted right away, including links to sites that let you calculate your carbon footprint.
Members of the public are also encouraged to share resources that they have used and suggestions can be made via the website.
Elizabeth Sparrow continued: “Unless all members of society are made aware of how they can access and use information in their daily lives, the significant proportion of Britons who are failing to realise the benefits of information technology will persist.
“This is not just a question of access: information Savvy Citizens also know how to use information and information technology to their advantage.”
The Institute is also a provider of Green IT qualifications and provides a Foundation Certificate in Green IT designed to help IT professionals and corporations gain an in-depth understanding of the environmental issues associated with IT.
The three-day course provides candidates with a fundamental understanding of the importance of IT when trying to achieve an organisation’s green objectives, an ability to identify their own green IT requirements and how to address them. It provides an understanding of the regulations, legislation and policies, carbon energy accounting and how to create a green IT strategy.
It also covers business benefits, end-to-end costing, emissions and energy efficiencies, procurement, lifecycle and disposal planning as well as managing stakeholder relationships and behaviours.
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