New key publication: “Toward Sustainable 6G: A Holistic View of Trade-Offs and Enablers”
The transition towards sixth-generation (6G) mobile networks presents a unique opportunity to address some of the most pressing sustainability challenges facing society today. While future communication networks are expected to deliver unprecedented levels of connectivity, intelligence and automation, they must also be designed to contribute positively to environmental, social and economic sustainability objectives.
A recent magazine article entitled “Toward Sustainable 6G: A Holistic View of Trade-Offs and Enablers“ explores this challenge in depth, proposing a comprehensive framework for understanding and addressing sustainability in future 6G systems. The paper is authored by Mattia Merluzzi, Olivier Bouchet, Ali Balador, Gilles Callebaut, Anastasius Gavras, Liesbet Van der Perre, Albert Banchs, Mauro Renato Boldi, Emilio Calvanese Strinati, Bahare Masood Khorsandi, Marja Matinmikko-Blue and Lars Christoph Schmelz.
Sustainability as a Core Design Principle
The article begins by recognising sustainability as one of the defining challenges of our time. In alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), sustainability requires balancing environmental protection, social well-being and economic prosperity. These three interconnected pillars form the foundation upon which future technological developments must be evaluated.
For the telecommunications sector, this challenge is particularly significant. While 6G technologies have the potential to enable transformative societal benefits, they also introduce concerns related to resource consumption, energy demand, infrastructure deployment and the broader impacts of digital technologies on individuals and communities.
The authors therefore argue that sustainability must become a central design principle for 6G rather than a secondary consideration addressed after technological development.
Understanding the Sustainability Dilemma
A key contribution of the article is its analysis of the dual role of 6G within the sustainability landscape.
On one side, future networks may generate negative impacts through increased energy consumption, material use, operational costs and potential societal concerns associated with advanced digital technologies. On the other side, 6G can act as a powerful enabler of sustainability by supporting more efficient industrial processes, reducing emissions across vertical sectors, bridging the digital divide and fostering new economic opportunities.
To capture this duality, the authors introduce two complementary perspectives:
- Sustainable 6G (S6G), which focuses on reducing the direct sustainability footprint of 6G technologies themselves.
- 6G for Sustainable Applications (6GS), which focuses on how 6G can enable sustainability improvements across other sectors of society and the economy.
The interaction between these two perspectives creates a complex set of trade-offs that must be carefully managed throughout the design, deployment and operation of future networks.
The full article, “Toward Sustainable 6G: A Holistic View of Trade-Offs and Enablers”, is available at:
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11474788
