A joint study conducted by Gartner and the World Wildlife Fund found that the IT industry has been slow to get its house in order when it comes to reducing its carbon footprint.

According to Gartner, the IT industry is responsible for 2 percent of the world's carbon emissions, and this first annual study is an attempt to establish metrics for the industry, reports GreenerComputing.

Twenty-four IT companies participated in the study that probed their environmental practices, including recycling procedures, steps taken towards energy reduction, and education of employees. BT, Fujitsu, HP and IBM did well in virtually all categories while China Mobile, Lenovo, Nortel, Verizon and Wipro did not score particularly well in any category.

SAP, highlighted for lacking greenhouse reduction targets in the study, recently released the SAP Sustainability Report 2008, which points to the company's programs and measures to improve its sustainability as well as aid its customers in meeting their own sustainability initiatives, says BusinessGreen.