By John Zipperer

What's your company's carbon footprint? If you don't know now, you probably will within the next few years — if not sooner — as new laws regulating emissions go into effect. Even today, enterprises of all types and sizes, in a bid to save money and help the environment, are keeping abreast of new global carbon-reduction legislation and regulations. At the center of these efforts is IT, which is tracking the energy efficiency of data centers and other core technologies. CIOs are leveraging their IT insights to emerge as green leaders, showing the business how to reduce its carbon footprint with video teleconferencing, electronic — versus paper — documents, and other Earth-friendly technologies.

Businesses that have already made energy efficiency a core goal enjoy a decisive advantage because they should easily meet, or even beat, a large and growing list of government-imposed goals. But the ability to measure a business' carbon footprint is only part of the equation. CIOs must also do something about reducing it. To do so, CIOs can use reporting and improvement planning tools. When combined with an enterprisewide plan focused on energy awareness, these tools can also help them emerge as green leaders, while making the case for green changes in nontechnical, business-centric language.

CIOs worldwide are getting environmental guidance from their governments. For example, in September 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency signed a rule relating to greenhouse gas emissions reporting. Covering 85 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gases, the new system is designed to identify the sources of those gases. It should also help businesses track their emissions, compare their numbers to those of similar-sized organizations, and identify cost-effective ways to reduce emissions in the future. The system will have plenty of users very soon, since the country's largest polluters — those companies and organizations that emit 25,000 metric tons or more per year of greenhouse gas emissions — will be required to file emissions data starting in 2011. Similarly, many U.S. states have established their own carbon-reduction goals and plans. California, for example, has mandatory caps set to come into force in 2012. And the European Union has an Emissions Trading System — in place for several years — that collects emissions data from a range of industries. The EU credits this reporting and trading system alone with a 3 percent reduction in carbon emissions in just one year. Efforts may ramp up even more in 2010. This past December, more than 130 world leaders gathered in Copenhagen at the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference.