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G8 Summits are usually lively affairs - not least because of their ability to attract throngs of protesters. And while Bob Geldof was leading calls for political leaders to address African debt at the recent G8 meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, a group representing technology vendors was in attendance to promote their efforts in tackling the other big issue of the day: climate change.

The Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change (CLGCC), which counts tech companies Sun Microsystems and Cisco among its 13 members, has been keen to promote the findings of its most recent report into what legislative and technological initiatives are needed to help reduce carbon emissions.

It was joined in discussions at the G8 by the Sustainable Technology Foundation. The STF's mission statement is "to promote and protect the tremendous positive potential of [IT] by helping to minimise negative human, societal and environmental impacts across the industry supply chain, and the technology lifecycle".

Together their message is simple: There are clear environmental reasons for looking at green issues, but they needn't cost the earth. According to analyst company the Bathwick Group, the total energy used annually by PCs in the UK clocks in at 3.7 gigawatts/hour, equivalent to about 1% of total power usage. Generating this much power releases 1.6 million tonnes of CO2 over a year, which would require 1.6 million hectares of trees to balance - which is 10% more than the whole tree stock of the UK or about 10 times the area of Greater London.

These facts are not lost on the high-tech companies. Both Sun and Dell have latched onto the idea of sustainable computing as both a vehicle for brand improvement and competitive advantage.

Sun is particularly keen to push the environmental benefits of its utility model. The average SunRay thin client, the foundation of its thin-client server architecture, requires only 15 watts of power versus the 300 watts needed for the average PC; its heat output is one-tenth of a PC; it takes a lot less energy to manufacture and the lack of moving parts makes it easier to maintain. Added to this, the life expectancy of a SunRay is estimated at between seven and 10 years, as opposed to the three year life expectancy of a standard PC.

Another hardware manufacturer that has joined the crusade is Dell. A year ahead of the Directive on the Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS) deadline, Dell has already made significant progress. It is promoting an aggressive recycling strategy: it recovered nearly 30 million kilograms of product in the fiscal year 2005; it now plans to dramatically limit the amount of lead on its motherboards and it has cut down significantly on the packaging that accompanies its products.

Despite all this, Lena Pripp-Kovac, Dell's sustainable business manager in EMEA, says that take-up on the recycling initiatives has been disappointing. To remedy this, she wants the Dell sales force to improve their sustainability advice to promote awareness of Dell's global asset recovery program, which includes erasing data to adhere to compliance legislation.

But whether CIOs will buy into this idea remains to be seen. Margaret Smith, CEO of networking forum CIO Connect says, 'green' computing only makes sense if it helps the business. "If you ask CIOs what they think of sustainability, it's all about the sustainability of their business," she says.