Brussels, 28/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 26 September, 16 well-known ICT (information and communication technology) companies pledged to reduce the amount of electricity consumed by their broadband equipment - A1 Telekom, Austria AG, Belgacom, British Telecom, KPN, France Telecom-Orange, OTE, Portugal Telecom, Telefonica, Telenor and Turk Telekom - and data centres - Belgacom, Trance Telecom-Orange, TDC Services, Telecom Italia, Telefonica and Turk Telekom. This should reduce the electricity consumption, in many cases by 50%, of the 50 or so companies taking part in the initiative. The announcement that these further 16 companies had signed up to the voluntary codes of conduct in ICT, managed by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), came at the ICT 2010 -Digitally Driven conference at the Brussels Expo from 27 to 29 September. “The success of these codes of conduct shows industry's recognition that innovation to boost energy efficiency is a commercial, economic and environmental priority. It is a good example of the JRC's behind-the-scenes work to support the EUROPE 2020 Strategy,” said European Research Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn. Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said that implementing these two codes of conduct could save €4.5 billion per year. The digital agenda for Europe, adopted in May 2010 wants to ensure that the ICT sector leads the way on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. (B.C./transl.rt)