During its quarterly earnings call last week, Hewlett-Packard CEO Léo Apotheker made a number of transformational announcements -- not the least of which is that HP is considering leaving the PC business.

Facing sliding profits from its personal computers, HP is exploring options to spin off or sell its personal computers business, which despite bringing in one-third of HP's revenue, is also increasingly squeezed on profit margins. The company will make a decision within the next 12 weeks.

In ditching personal computers, HP is instead shifting focus to corporate services, a move IBM made in 2005 when it sold its PC business to Lenovo to take on much the same focus.

And just as with IBM's renaissance as the herald of the "smarter planet," HP's reinvention could be good news for greening business.

HP is of course no slouch when it comes to green consumer electronics, with a years-long focus on greener PCs, and an even more intensive focus on green printing technologies. And although HP's post-PC shift won't affect its imaging and printing group, it's likely to have an impact on green PCs.

By handing over the reins of its PC business to another company, we're likely to see a slide in the cutting-edge green innovations from whoever takes over the reins. There are of course built-in demands for energy efficiency in portable computers, so focus on battery life will likely continue.

But when it comes to restricting the use of toxics in PCs, there aren't a lot of companies taking it as serious as HP. And although Apple has been busy touting the less-toxic nature of its devices for the last few years, HP is the highest-ranking computer manufacturer on Greenpeace's guide to greener electronics. (I know, it's far from a perfect metric, but still.)

And if you're talking about responsible supply chains -- for any industry -- you're talking about HP. Whether it's green chemistry in supply chains, managing supply chain emissions, to developing "conflict-free" supply chains, HP has been front and center on supply chain responsibility -- and that's not likely to carry over to whoever takes over the company's PC business.

Next page: The green lining to HP's possible shift