SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Green IT 2.0 is the name of the game in Greenpeace's 'Cool IT' rankings -- technologies that enable increased efficiency and reduced greenhouse gas emissions for activities outside the data center -- and Cisco is at the top of the heap.

The NGO released its third leaderboard for the Cool IT Challenge, and Cisco doubled its score to 62 points since the previous rankings were released last fall, leapfrogging Google, Fujitsu, HP and IBM to earn first place.

Cisco achieved its new ranking based on the emissions reductions impacts of its smart grid and office energy management technologies, tools that can cut greenhouse gas emissions far beyond the scope of Cisco's own operations and help the business world reduce its overall carbon footprint.

"To play a significant role in helping make sure global greenhouse gas emissions peak by 2015, IT companies need to deliver upon the promise that their technology can provide substantial climate savings today," Greenpeace Campaigner Casey Harrell said in a statement. "Leaders such as Cisco are actively investing in climate solutions, while others are merely signaling commitments, hoping that lofty words are as good as action."

Other highly ranked firms include Ericsson, which debuted at second place in the rankings; the company earned 53 points based on the strength of its real-world case studies that measure how its technologies are cutting GHGs.

The rankings are based on three categories: Solutions -- the technologies that a company has developed to improve efficiency; Footprint -- the commitments companies have made to reduce their own emissions; and Advocacy -- how much effort companies, and particularly their CEOs, are putting toward the passage of global climate legislation.

While most companies in the rankings scored highly for solutions -- the technologies that bring in their revenue -- Google was singled out in the rankings for its advocacy efforts. Although the company landed in sixth place with a score of 33, it scored the highest overall on political advocacy.

"Google continues to be among the strongest of the IT companies in advocating government policy changes to drive low carbon sources of electricity, including support for national renewable electricity and energy efficiency standards," the report notes. "Google has also shown recent leadership in calling for the need for consumer access to information on their energy consumption, such as the data to be generated from smart meters."

But the company gets dinged for its total lack of emissions-reduction policies, scoring just one point out of a possible 15, as well as a lack of progress on its solutions -- the Google PowerMeter offering that scored the company high points in previous rankings had not advanced or shown real-world impacts to date.

The companies at the bottom of the list include Panasonic, in last place with 14 points; Sony with 16 points; and Sharp with 18 points.

The full rankings are below; the full leaderboard is available for download from GreenBiz.com.