Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The sixth generation of mobile networks (6G) can play a central role in shaping a sustainable future, the most compelling contemporary challenge. Connecting the unconnected, reducing carbon emissions of vertical sectors, and allowing heterogeneous types of intelligence (including humans) to safely and constructively interact in complex environments, are only a few of the several challenges that can be supported by 6G. However, this requires a careful design that balances positive and negative impacts of 6G, towards a sustainable and sustainability-enabling technology. This article presents a holistic view that translates the complex interplay between the 6G enabling effects and the sustainability of 6G by design, into concrete trade-offs and research questions. Starting from today's challenges for society and associated key values, we unfold the dilemma into a set of technical trade-offs, whose solutions span from technological innovations to standardization actions towards applicability.
Source: IEEE Communications Magazine
Language: English
Topic: Green IT and Sustainability
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: European Commission
OpenAlex ID: W7148998637