Irresponsible Science?

The case study finds that the BCS — The Chartered Institute for IT has no direct listed investments or prestige event sponsorships linked to the arms or fossil fuel industries. However, it notes a lack of transparency regarding corporate members and criticizes a previous environmental policy for questioning the scientific consensus on CO2 emissions as the primary driver of climate change. While the institute maintains some green IT initiatives, the current status of its formal environmental policy remains unclear following its removal from the website in 2018.

• The BCS's previous environmental policy, published in 2013 and 2014, questioned the scientific consensus that CO2 emissions are the primary cause of climate change, suggesting instead that "there is still debate in the scientific community whether climate change is due mainly to global warming, caused primarily by CO2 emissions, or whether other factors such as solar radiation and perturbations in the earth’s orbit have greater influence".
• The institute's environmental policy was removed from its website in 2018, and as of the time of writing, no replacement statement or policy had been issued, leaving the current status of its environmental policy "unclear".
• The BCS does not hold listed investments such as equities or bonds, instead holding approximately £10m in a bank deposit account and interests in several education companies, meaning it does not hold investments in the arms or fossil fuel industries.
• Surveys of sponsors for prestige events between mid-2017 and mid-2019, as well as school education programmes like 'Computing at School' and 'Barefoot Computing', showed no sponsors classified as part of the arms or fossil fuel industries.
• There is a lack of transparency regarding the BCS's corporate membership scheme, as there is "no publicly accessible directory of organisational members". This creates a data gap, as the IT industry generally has significant links to military organisations.
• The BCS maintains limited environmental initiatives, including a "Green IT Specialist Group" and guidance on "greening you IT workspace".

APA

Scientists for Global Responsibility (n.d.). Irresponsible Science? https://www.sgr.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-10/2-BCS-The_Chartered_Institute_for_IT.pdf

Chicago

Scientists for Global Responsibility. Irresponsible Science? n.d. https://www.sgr.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-10/2-BCS-The_Chartered_Institute_for_IT.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Scientists for Global Responsibility |title=Irresponsible Science? |url=https://www.sgr.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-10/2-BCS-The_Chartered_Institute_for_IT.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{scientistsforglobalresponsibilityndirresponsible, author = {{Scientists for Global Responsibility}}, title = {{Irresponsible Science?}}, institution = {Scientists for Global Responsibility}, url = {https://www.sgr.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-10/2-BCS-The_Chartered_Institute_for_IT.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }