Two thirds of companies will increase their spending on green IT in the next year, according to research by security vendor Symantec.

The supplier's 2009 Green IT Survey suggests that 68 per cent of firms questioned plan to increase their green IT budget over the next year.

The impetus for implementing a green IT strategy was a desire to reduce energy use (90 per cent) and cooling costs (87 per cent).

According to the research, companies typically spend between 21 and 25 per cent of their overall IT budget on datacentre electricity, which is adding to the need to make IT more energy efficient.

Nearly half of respondents said IT products' energy efficiency would be a very important consideration in their purchasing decisions over the coming year.

“Over the past 12 months, IT has emerged as a new driving force in implementing green initiatives – not only for energy savings benefits, but also as a result of the widespread desire to implement environmentally responsible practices,” said Jose Iglesias, vice president of global solutions at Symantec.

Symantec questioned more than 1,000 senior IT decision makers at large firms across the world.