An initiative from the major manufacturers of computer equipment could help small businesses reduce their carbon footprints in the future, research firm Gartner has said.

On June 12th, Intel and Google revealed that they were joining other major IT players like Dell, EDS, HP, IBM, Lenovo and Microsoft in setting aggressive targets for the manufacture of more environmentally-sound computer technologies.

Gartner has welcomed the move, saying that it will help businesses act to reduce carbon emissions.

A statement from the company said: "Gartner believes this initiative will contribute to reductions in IT power consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

"Intel and Google claim that if the targeted 90 per cent efficiency for power supplies is achieved, greenhouse gas emissions will fall by 54 million tons by 2010 and energy costs by more than $5.5 billion.

"We believe the initiative will spur good progress on reducing motherboard power consumption, but that improvements in power supply efficiency would have happened anyway."

The firm added that it was important the IT manufacturers coordinated their green moves and make sure that any future eco-labelling of computer equipment was useful and not confusing.

The statement concluded: "Enterprises should continue to challenge the members of the initiative to demonstrate their environmental credentials."