Which IT service providers have built top-notch sustainability services? We took a close look at The Forrester Wave: IT Sustainability Service Providers report for Q3 of 2023. Then we compared that report to our own ongoing coverage of the green IT services market.
In Forrester's report, the research firm describes IT sustainability services as: "Services related to environmental sustainability and carbon footprint reduction exclusively in the enterprise IT stack, covering IT in the workplace, IT development, and IT infrastructure."
That generally aligns with our thoughts, especially as CIOs tap IT service providers for help with their sustainability strategies. Among the reasons:
- By 2025, 50% of CIOs will have specific performance metrics tied to energy consumption, according to Gartner.
- And by 2027, 75% of organizations will have implemented a data center infrastructure sustainability program, up from less than 5% in 2022, Gartner predicted.
- Moreover, the green technology and sustainability market is expected to reach $51.09 billion by 2029, up from $13.76 billion in 2022, according to Fortune Business Insights. That’s a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.6%.
Top 10 IT Sustainability Service Providers: 2024 List and Analysis
Amid that backdrop, here is a look at the top 10 IT sustainability service providers. We've added our own descriptors for each company, based on our ongoing coverage of the green IT services market. And we've sorted the list alphabetically rather than outright ranking each company against the others.
1. Accenture
Headquarters: Dublin, Ireland
Employees: 733,000
Anecdotes: The global IT consulting firm was a first-move into the managed IT services and cloud services market. The situation is similar with green IT services. The company's IT sustainability strategy involves organic growth, training programs, partnerships and acquisitions.
2. Atos
Headquarters: Bezos, France
Employees: 104,000
Anecdotes: At first glance, Atos appears to be downplaying its climate consulting business. After all, the Paris-based IT service provider sold its climate consulting and net-zero solutions business to Schneider Electric in July 2023. But take a closer look and you'll see Atos focusing aggressively on green IT services. Among the proof points: The company will host a Sustainable IT Services conference during the massive COP28 climate summit in Dubai on December 6, 2023.
3. Capgemini
Headquarters: Paris, France
Employees: 357,000
Anecdotes: In addition to offering IT services, Capgemini has closely researched the sustainability needs of customers. Among the findings: 63% of executives agreed that the business case for sustainability is clear, up from 21% in 2022, according to Capgemini research. The company has also surfaced at major Microsoft and Amazon Web Services conferences in 2023. Among the topics of discussion: How to envision, execute and operate solutions that run on Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability.
4. CGI
Headquarters: Montreal, Canada
Employees: 91,000
Anecdotes: Among the recent developments to note, CGI has developed a digital twin service to help customers better understand and reduce data center energy consumption, Tech Market View reported.
5. Cognizant
Headquarters: Teaneck, New Jersey
Employees: 355,300
Anecdotes: In mid-2023, Cognizant joined the AT&T Connected Climate Initiative (CCI), an industry consortium dedicated to eliminating one billion tons (the Gigaton Goal) of CO2 emissions by 2035 through the use of connectivity solutions and technology. Outside of the traditional IT market, Cognizant and Tidal are collaborating to "help blue ocean economies accelerate decarbonization, starting with blue food," the companies said. Tidal is a project from Google parent Alphabet; it is designed to help protect the ocean and feed humanity sustainably. Also of note:: Orica, a developer of commercial explosives, has partnered with Cognizant for an ESG data strategy and a digital platform that provides real-time reporting and forecasting of scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.Â
6. HCLTech
Headquarters: Noida, India
Employees: 225,944
Anecdotes: HCLTech and Schneider Electric in mid-2023 partnered to develop energy- and carbon-efficient solutions for data center customers in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Fast forward to December 2023, and HCLTech described its sustainability services to AWS re:Invent 2023 conference attendees in Las Vegas.
7. Infosys
Headquarters: Bengaluru (also called Bangalore), India
Employees: 335,200
Anecdotes: The company apparently practices what it preaches. Infosys claims that it became carbon neutral in 2020 -- fully 30 years ahead of the timeline set by the Paris Agreement.
8. NTT Data
Headquarters: Koto City, Tokyo, Japan
Employees: 139,500
Anecdotes: NTT Data and NTT expect to complete their long-planned merger in April 2024. Ahead of that deal, NTT Data remains plenty busy in the sustainability market. In July 2023, the company launched the NTT Green & Food Corporation, a company using artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and other information communications technology (ICT) to "develop more efficient and sustainable food production systems." And in May 2023, NTT partnered with Cisco Systems partnered to promote IoT (Internet of Things) as a service capabilities that help customers meet their sustainability goals. Additional relationships with NEC and Microsoft Azure are in place.
9. Schneider Electric
Headquarters: Paris, France
Employees: 162,000
Anecdotes: Schneider Electric has bet its entire business on digital automation and energy management. As of mid-2023, the company was generating record revenues and net income amid strong demand for energy management and industrial automation products and services, CEO Peter Herweck said. Key moves include expanding a sustainability and IT services partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to increasingly support Asia Pacific customers.
10. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
Headquarters: Mumbai, India
Employees: 616,000
Anecdotes: TCS has been working with Microsoft to help end-customers understand how to address Scope 3 challenges in their supply chains. And in terms of market guidance, TCS offers this guidance on green data centers that can power sustainability goals.
Bonus - 11. Wipro
Headquarters: Bengaluru (also called Bangalore), India
Employees: 240,000
Anecdotes: Among the noteworthy moves in 2023, Wipro expanded its ServiceNow partnership to help customers address ESG standards across various vertical markets. Also, four employees won the Microsoft Pledge to Progress: Sustainability Hackathon. The hackathon provides a platform for organizations and individuals to "develop progressive solutions that can help reduce carbon emissions, save water, manage waste, create green software." The solutions are built on the Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability platform. Also, Wipro FullStride Cloud partnered with Pure Storage to "help clients accelerate their sustainability journey through the power of technology.Â
Additional Sustainability Partners to Know
In addition to the companies above, Sustainable Tech Partner recommends readers keep their eyes on Logicalis, based in Maidenhead, United Kingdom. The reason: Logicalis was named Cisco's Sustainability Partner of the Year for 2023. The honor surfaced after Logicalis introduced Managed Digital Fabric Platform services. Those services provide CIOs and customers with "the insights they need to improve both the environmental and business impact of their digital ecosystem," Logicalis US said.
Admittedly, some major names are missing from the list above. Examples include Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC, just to name few. Moreover, climate- and ESG-focused consulting firms such as ERM and WSP are getting pulled into green IT services conversations.
PS: Whom did we miss? Please email me feedback, suggestions and constructive criticism. Joe@MentoreVentures.com.
