April 30, 2008 - Nearly a third of CIOs say they expect a budget boost for their departments in the coming year as companies target greener, more energy-efficient operations, according to a new survey by YouGov for Cisco, the networking giant. Of the 30% who anticipate more funding this year, a quarter say they could see a bump of as much as 24%.

The survey, which polled 200 senior IT execs at private firms in the U.K., also notes that CIOs are increasingly being called upon to act as changemakers within the organization. In fact, 23% of respondents say they have been asked to spearhead their company's entire green strategy.

The need for energy to fuel expanding IT operations is one reason CIOs are being tapped for the job, but respondents also suggest that technology is increasingly seen as a way to reduce a company's overall environmental footprint. Forty percent of those surveyed, for example, say their company is looking at remote conferencing as a way to reduce employee air travel.

So are CIOs up to the job? Some say yes, some say not yet - but most seem to agree that green IT will play an increasingly key role in their company's long-term sustainability strategy.