Networking equipment vendor Cisco has been awarded first place in a green IT leaderboard for its efforts to limit the environmental impact of its technologies.

Research for Greenpeace’s ‘Cool IT’ list scored the company highly in not only the environmental-friendliness of its products, but also for reducing its carbon footprint and advocating green causes. Telecommunications equipment vendor Ericsson and IT giant IBM followed in second and third place respectively.

Vendors that scored poorly on Greenpeace’s index included Intel, SAP and Dell – the latter having drawn criticism from the organisation in March 2010 for allegedly reneging on an agreement to eliminate use of certain plastics from its products.

“To play a significant role in helping make sure global greenhouse gas emissions peak by 2015, IT companies need to deliver upon the promise that their technology can provide substantial climate savings today,” said Greenpeace campaigner Casey Harrell.