Presently holed up in Bali, politicians from around the world are debating how – and by how much – to cut carbon pollution to save the planet from the effects of global warming.

I’m surely not the first person to point out the huge carbon footprint that will be left by flying so many people out to Bali. Yet aviation isn’t the only major environmental villain.

The information and communications industry produces as much carbon emissions as the aviation industry, according to a report published last week by environmental charity Global Action Plan.

The charity’s director Trewin Restorick points out that we have not yet seen anyone superglue themselves to their PC in protest, in the same way that campaigners have done with aeroplanes. But major users of IT should be considering the corporate social responsibility and public relations implications of how they choose to operate.

Global Action Plan highlights servers and the data centres that house them as major culprits. It says companies must be more environmentally aware of how they store their data and, indeed, of their policies on which data should be stored at all.

Apparently, a standard server is as bad for the environment as a Chelsea tractor. Restorick suggests that if Ken Livingstone is happy to tax 4x4 vehicles out of London, perhaps he should pursue a similar policy for servers, too.

If the environmental lobbyists do choose to turn their attention to IT, then retailers had better watch out.

Big retailers run big data centres and, as they expand their multichannel businesses, they are getting access to more and more in-depth information that needs storing.

Some of the most forward-thinking retailers are trying to address the role that their IT departments can play in their carbon-cutting initiatives.

Luckily, such projects can save lots of money, too, as I doubt that the threat of a demo outside their data centre has been the driving force in spurring them into action.

If other retailers follow the leaders, in the same way that we are starting to see them do for other environmental policies, such as reducing plastic bag usage, then this will be an issue for all retail IT departments within a few years.

It certainly puts a whole new perspective on the term cleaning up your data.

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