Two Indian IT companies, (Wipro 5th and HCL 13th) have made it much ahead of several Fortune 100 global companies in Greenpeace sixth annual ranking of 20 Cool IT companies for 2013. Surprisingly, TCS has been removed in this year’s ranking due to ‘significant decline in performance’. Google and Cisco are ranked first.

Greenpeace launched the Cool IT Challenge in 2009 to call on Information Technology (IT) companies to power technological solutions needed to fight climate change. Greenpeace believes that the IT sector possesses the innovative spirit, technological knowhow and political influence to bring about a rapid clean energy revolution. It also takes into account inhouse energy management and contributions to the wider green economy.

SMART 2020 report, published in 2008, had noted the IT sector’s opportunity to drive transformative change in the consumption and production of energy, with the potential to drive a significant reduction in the greenhouse gases (GHGs) that cause climate change. This analysis was reconfirmed in 2012 in the SMARTer2020 report, with global estimates of GHG reduction potential exceeding 16% by 2020.

However, Greenpeace said, the sector still lacks leadership in demanding policy changes needed to drive investment in clean technology and renewable energy deployment. “To combat the formidable power of this dirty energy political bloc, IT companies have to take vocal leadership in advocating for renewable energy, as well as the IT energy solutions they can provide as the backbone of a modern, 21st century energy infrastructure.”

Wipro earned a significant increase in its score in this Leaderboard, gaining 10 points and raising its overall ranking to 5th place, primarily on the strength of its score in the IT Energy Impact and Advocacy leadership criteria. HCL increased its score in its second ranking in the Cool IT Leaderboard, primarily through greater advocacy leadership in India, providing critical support for laws supporting renewable energy. However, HCL still lags far behind its competitors in offering IT energy saving solutions, and also has substantial room for improvement in mitigating its own climate footprint.

Greenpeace sixth IT Leaderboard report looks at 21 global leaders in the space covering market solutions that can help customer’s reduce energy use, internal energy footprint and their advocacy of new governmental policies encouraging the adoption of renewable energy and energy efficiency. It’s surprising the list doesn’t include, as it did last year, two of the biggest names in the high-tech industry, Apple and Facebook. The fact that the first ranked company obtained only 58 out of 100 means there’s potential for global IT companies to do more.