Almost one in four IT directors say green issues are of little or no importance to them.

Managing environmental constraints such as energy consumption or inefficiencies around the cooling of datacentres are not on the agenda in commercial firms, according to a survey of 100 heads of department by PMP Research for Computacenter Services.

More than 6 out of 10 IT directors in the banking sector said they have no intention of reducing processing power in response to environmental concerns. But the public sector is starting to address the problem: 48 per cent have taken steps to curb their energy use.

Public opinion will play a growing role in persuading firms to take green issues seriously, says Computacenter datacentre solutions director Terry Walby.

'A green public image is becoming important and banks need to follow the public sector if they are going to avoid giving themselves a bad name,' said Walby.

Respondents ranked a lack of available space for new infrastructure as the most pressing issue facing datacentre managers. Power capacity and high land costs were the next priorities.

One in seven (14 per cent) of those surveyed admitted there is little awareness within their organisation of the need to adopt more environmentally friendly IT practices.