Voluntary Initiatives

The following organisations run programmes where vendors or buyers can commit to actions designed to reduce their environmental impacts. They are not based on formal standards, but represent a commitment to continuous reduction of impacts.

Climate Savers Computing

Started by Google and Intel in 2007, the Climate Savers Computing Initiative is a nonprofit group of eco-conscious consumers, businesses and conservation organizations. It emulates WWF’s Climate Savers programme which has mobilised over a dozen companies since 1999 to cut carbon dioxide emissions, demonstrating that reducing emissions is good business. Its goal is to promote development, deployment and adoption of smart technologies that can both improve the efficiency of a computer’s power delivery and reduce the energy consumed when the computer is in an inactive state.

As participants in the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, computer and component manufacturers commit to producing products that meet specified power-efficiency targets, and corporate participants commit to purchasing power-efficient computing products. It aims to achieve a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions from computers by 2010.

Carbon Disclosure Project

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is an independent not-for-profit organisation. Its goal is to facilitate a dialogue, supported by quality information, between shareholders and corporations from which a rational response to climate change will emerge. 

It provides a coordinating secretariat for institutional investors with a combined $57 trillion of assets under management. On their behalf it seeks information on  greenhouse gas emissions data from 3,000 of the world's largest companies. By publishing this data, it hopes to catalyse the activities of policymakers, consultants, accountants and marketers.

One in Five Challenge

An initiative of WWF-UK, the One in Five Challenge aims to cut one in five business flights within five years, as part of WWFs vision for a One Planet Future. According to the WWF, aviation is responsible for 13% of the damage that the UK does to the climate and business travel can account for 50% or more of a non-manufacturing company's carbon footprint. The One in Five Challenge provides public recognition for companies that reduce the environmental impact of their business travel, and membership provides a number of practical tools and services to support achievement of this goal.