A number of IT firms across the country are taking a "gap year" when it comes to implementing a more environmentally-friendly initiative in the workplace, it has been stated.

In a recent investigation carried out by Gartner, it was found that the global economic climate was having a big effect on departmental budgets and as a result, many countries had reduced their drive to making things greener in the office.

Rakesh Kumar, the research vice-president at Gartner, said that the broad areas of green IT such as videoconferencing and carbon reporting will still continue to be a "key pillar" of future initiatives, given that money is still saved by doing so.

He added: "This is because the political and scientific imperatives around the climate change will continue to push governments, international bodies and organisations as stakeholders increase the pressure to focus on environmental sustainability."

Gartner is one of the most respected research companies in the world, delivering studies to over 60,000 clients.

In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were guaranteed response times and allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues.