SUSTAIN-6G Showcases Sustainability Vision at EuCNC & 6G Summit 2026

This year again, SUSTAIN-6G, the lighthouse project of the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU), demonstrated an impactful presence at EuCNC & 6G Summit 2026. The project contributed and led several discussions around sustainability via several workshops, special sessions, panels and a booth showcasing 6 live demos, proving concrete innovations in advancing sustainability in future 6G systems.

Driving the Sustainability Agenda in 6G: SUSTAIN-6G actively shaped the sustainability dialogue through the organisation of two dedicated workshops and the contribution of one high-level special session:

“Sustainable by Design, Sustainable in Operation: The 6G Perspective” Workshop 11

This workshop examined how sustainability can be embedded into the real-time operation of future 6G networks, moving beyond vision statements and efficiency targets towards practical implementation. Organised by Mir Ghoraishi (Gigsys Solutions) and Christoph Schmelz (Nokia), the session brought together expertise from SNS projects including 6G-GOALS, 6G-TWIN, ETHER, AMBIENT-6G, 6G-SENSES, NexaSphere, SAFE-6G, SUSTAIN-6G, iTrust6G, EXIGENCE, NATWORK, ECO-eNET, 6G-PATH and 6G-VERSUS. Presentations by Paola Soto Arenas (imec), Jeroen Famaey (imec), Harilaos G. Koumaras (Demokritos), Artur Hecker (Huawei Munich Research Centre) and Luis Cordeiro (OneSource) explored topics including semantic communications, network digital twins, energy-neutral devices, trustworthy AI, federated orchestration and sustainability validation through large-scale experimentation.

The workshop also featured a keynote by Prof. Rui Aguiar (Institute of Telecommunications Aveiro) on long-term operational sustainability in future telecom ecosystems, followed by a panel discussion involving Rui Aguiar, Prof. Maziar Nekovee (University of Sussex), Dr Anastasius Gavras (Eurescom), Dr Katerina Petersen (PSC Europe), Chiara Mazzone (SNS JU Office) and Dr Christoph Schmelz (Nokia), moderated by Dr Mir Ghoraishi. Together, the speakers highlighted how sustainable 6G requires not only energy efficiency, but also trust, resilience, intelligent automation and measurable operational impact across the entire network lifecycle.

“Sustainability in 6G: E2E Integration and Assessment” Workshop 8

Organised by Mattia Merluzzi (CEA-Leti), Christoph Schmelz (Nokia), Anastasius Gavras and Pooja Mohnani (Eurescom), Andrea Di Giglio (Telecom Italia), Luis Cordeiro (OneSource), Antonios Lalas (ITI), Sanna Tuomela and Marja Matinmikko-Blue (University of Oulu), Mays Al-Naday (University of Essex), Mir Ghoraishi (Gigsys Solutions), Luigi Briguglio (CyberSocial Labs), Stefan Wendt (Orange Labs), Tobias Hossfeld (University of Würzburg) and Haesik Kim (VTT), this workshop addressed sustainability from a holistic end-to-end perspective. Contributions from SUSTAIN-6G, AMAZING-6G, 6G-PATH, 6G-VERSUS, NATWORKS, SUSTAINET and the 6G-IA Vision Working Group explored sustainability-driven vertical applications, ecosystem-wide evaluation methodologies, sustainability KPIs and approaches for assessing environmental, economic and societal impact across future 6G ecosystems.

Presentations were delivered by Christoph Schmelz, Haesik Kim, Sanna Tuomela, Luis Cordeiro, Tobias Hossfeld, Fariha Mawla, Mays Al-Naday, Marja Matinmikko-Blue, Stefan Wunderer (Nokia), Katerina Petersen (PSC Europe), Luigi Briguglio and Stefan Wendt. The workshop concluded with a panel moderated by Andrea Di Giglio, bringing together Stefan Wendt, Claudia Chiavarino (IUSTO), Luigi Briguglio, Sanna Tuomela and Vincent Audebert (EDF) to discuss how conflicting sustainability requirements can be prioritised across stakeholders. Discussions emphasised the importance of common assessment frameworks, value-driven indicators, social acceptance and coordinated governance to ensure sustainability remains a measurable and accountable objective throughout the 6G lifecycle.

“From Principles to Practice: Embedding Sustainability in 6G Standardisation” Special Session 6

Chaired by Christoph Schmelz (Nokia), Anastasius Gavras and Pooja Mohnani (Eurescom), Andrea Di Giglio (Telecom Italia) and Mattia Merluzzi (CEA-Leti), this special session brought together leading experts from international standardisation bodies, industry and European research initiatives to discuss how sustainability can be systematically embedded into future 6G standards. Building on the work of SUSTAIN-6G and the SNS Sustainability Working Group, the session examined current activities within 3GPP, ITU-T and ETSI, focusing on sustainability metrics, lifecycle assessment, energy efficiency, circularity, digital inclusion and compliance frameworks.

Contributions from Christoph Schmelz, Dr Colin Willcock (Nokia), Cristina Ciochina-Duchesne (Mitsubishi Electric R&D Centre Europe), Prachi Sachdeva (TNO), Albena Mihovska (SmartAvatar B.V.), Dr Hanne-Stine Hallingby, Marja Matinmikko-Blue (University of Oulu) and Laurent-Walter Goix (Nokia) provided perspectives from both standards development and research. The discussions identified opportunities for stronger alignment between standards bodies and research projects, while outlining a roadmap towards harmonised sustainability methodologies, common metrics and globally relevant frameworks that can support sustainability-by-design across future 6G networks and services.

At its exhibition booth 71-72, the SUSTAIN-6G project presented 6 live demonstrations, showcasing practical approaches to reducing energy consumption and enhancing system efficiency:

Demo 1: Photonic Continuity for Agriculture (WINGS ICT Solutions): Integration from zero-energy IoT devices to Fiber-Wireless (FiWi) networks

This demo presented innovative results, among others, achieved within SUSTAIN 6G European SNS project framework: enabling FiWi and ZED IoT PoCs integration (b-com), to test bicks of end-to-end all-optical wired and wireless network. The PoCs uses standard components integrated into a simple and compact housing for pre-industrial production to reduce size and costs. This demonstrator is associated to FiWi SaaS (WINGS) allowing installation process and management.

Demo 2: Agriculture Data vs Information (QAMPO): Enabling intelligent data utilisation for sustainable agriculture

This demo shows the benefits of applying 6G technologies to agriculture, focusing on coverage extension enabled by a modified LDPC design derived from 5G NR. By increasing coverage beyond current network limitations, precision agriculture techniques can be applied over larger areas where connectivity gaps currently prevent their use.

Demo 3: Joint 6G and Smart Grid Resource Optimisation (WINGS ICT Solutions): Cross-domain efficiency between telecom and energy systems

This demo showcases AI-based co-optimisation of 6G infrastructure and smart grid operation. Using renewable energy forecasting and energy-market signals, the system dynamically adapts workload placement, leveraging dynamic negotiation and SLA schemes, under grid stress or surplus conditions. The demonstration validates AI-driven renewable-aware workload migration and adaptive service-level compliance under energy constraints.

Demo 4: RespAI Framework (Nokia): A framework for trustworthy and sustainable AI in 6G networks

This demo introduces RespAI, a framework designed to embed Responsible AI by design into AI-native 6G networks. RespAI provides a unified methodology to assess and monitor energy consumption, robustness, and explainability of AI models used for autonomous network control. The demonstration highlights how responsibility-driven metrics reveal critical trade-offs between AI architectures that are invisible to accuracy-based evaluation alone, and how these metrics can be leveraged at both design time and runtime.

Demo 5: Energy-Efficient Cloud-Native Network Functions (Ericsson): Scheduling approaches to optimise performance and energy consumption

The work enhances the energy performance of cloud‑native 6G network functions and third‑party applications by introducing an AI-driven energy‑aware scheduling mechanism in the cloud platform that optimally places workloads to reduce cluster‑level energy use while preserving performance guarantees and requiring no application redesign.

Demo 6: Sustainable 5G/6G: MeeC-Driven UPF Offloading for Energy Savings (Deutsche Telekom)

A central objective is to demonstrate concrete mechanisms and technologies capable of reducing power consumption in future core and RAN systems. In this context, the MeeC concept, and particularly the UPF offloading approach, provides a strong example of how sustainability‑driven design translates into measurable energy savings.

Last but not least, the project saw itself attributed Thursday, 4 June 2026, the reward of one of the most inspiring 6G use cases among the 469 SNS JU use cases present in the Vertical Engagement Tracker, where SUSTAIN-6G displays 10 dedicated use cases in smart health, smart agriculture and smart energy.