Vendors are at risk of alienating users by jumping on the eco-friendly bandwagon and labelling their products as green, say experts.

The temptation to “greenwash” IT products and services is proving too much for some suppliers, who are re-branding their products to make them more appealing to the carbon-cutting market, said Datamonitor analyst Vuk Trifkovic.

This is a genuine threat to UK business, he said. In many cases, companies are not being directly deceptive, but are ‘fig-leafing’ ­ offering systems that include some environmental initiatives, but which are offset by the impact of the rest of the project.

"There is a definite danger of people perceiving green IT to be just another marketing ploy,” he said.

Despite the short-term benefits of adopting these tactics, vendors would be wise to tell the truth about what they have to offer, said Trifkovic.

“In the long run, companies will do less damage to their brand if they sell their products for what they are,” he said.

Users must be extremely careful in the face of greenwashing, said Lawrence Harrison, director of energy and environment work at trade group Intellect.

But the problem can be resolved if steps are taken to increase the amount of information in relation to the performance of green tools and services, he said.

“It’s hard to find any robust data about the impact the technology sector has had on reducing the carbon emissions in other industries,” said Harrison.

“This is part of the reason that Intellect has embarked upon a research project with the University of Warwick, to come up with some form of measurement criteria.”

In the future, this will help businesses to make the right decisions when it comes to avoiding greenwashing, he added.