Designers of business software and solutions have been called upon to make reducing carbon emissions easier for firms.

The role of IT on the environment was highlighted last week by the Carbon Trust, which claimed the sector is responsible for two per cent of global emissions - as much as the airline industry.

But while the government-backed group pointed out measures that could be undertaken, such as automatic shutdowns and turning off monitors, project manager Hugh Jones said that the way that firms design their systems is of key importance.

"The important part of making IT more efficient is the design process. But this is one of the hardest things to influence, partly because a lot of it is not designed in the UK," he said.

Mr Jones admitted that it could be risky for some "critical" areas of a business to make "drastic" changes to their current IT systems, but called for more consideration from designers of the carbon emissions of systems when they are still in the planning stages.

"We want designers to factor in the full life-time footprint of equipment and efforts should be made to try to reduce this in future designs," he said.

"And the business needs to factor in the carbon footprint as part of the decision-making process. For example, if the footprint of a new server is significant, the business should really think about it. The environment must be factored in at the planning stage."