In the mid-2000s, the concept of 'going green' made its way into the public consciousness with an almost faddish rapidity, and became a buzzword perceived as necessary to every business plan. The banking sector was no different, and power and resource-hungry financial institutions responded to the public desire for more environmentally conscious operations with company-wide sustainability programmes, most of which included a sizeable green IT component.
The advent of the global financial crisis meant that, in much of the world, banks were left with more immediate concerns than their carbon footprint. As technology budgets constricted and personnel numbers were slashed, it would be understandable to expect that green IT projects would follow other non-essential IT initiatives to cancellation or a limbo of postponement.
