The general secretary of the United Nations (UN) has spoken up regarding the need to address the amount of greenhouse gases that large and small businesses in IT alike are producing.

Ban Ki-Moon explained that IT can contribute between two and three per cent to such emissions, though they can also reduce them in other sectors by anywhere up to 15 per cent, meaning they are extremely important in the future of the UK and world.

He announced the measures after revealing in Geneva that 5,000 weather station systems are to work in Africa to relay text messages to farmers about any changes which could affect their livelihood.

"The weather stations will monitor the impact of climate change," Ban Ki-Moon explained.

"When there is news, we will be able to transmit it immediately to farmers' mobile phones. We hope to reach as many African farmers as possible because seven out of ten Africans rely on farming to survive."

Originally representing South Korea, Ban Ki-Moon succeeded Kofi Annan to the top job with the UN in 2007.

More than half of small businesses (53 per cent) believe that the most important benefit of outsourcing is guaranteed response times for IT support. London-based Connect conducted the research in 2007.