Huawei calls for energy efficiency standard

The president of Huawei’s Carrier Business Group argued operators’ efforts to improve energy efficiency would be boosted by establishing a standard measure for the entire industry, asserting in a speech action is needed to avert a carbon emissions crisis.

During the Win-Win Huawei Innovation Week, Ryan Ding warned energy efficiency improvements were required to help offset rapid rises in carbon emissions over the next five to ten years resulting from soaring global mobile data traffic.

“Every major advancement in history has been accompanied by a significant improvement in the energy efficiency of information transmission,” the executive said.

Establishing an industry-wide standard for measuring energy efficiency would smooth operators’ broader efforts by establishing a baseline to gauge progress and guide future developments.

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Ding cited independent research noting carbon emissions could grow threefold if a predicted double-digit rise in data traffic between 2020 and 2030 is realised, adding the industry faces an “unprecedented challenge” due to digitalisation.

He pointed to ITU predictions the ICT industry must cut carbon emissions by a minimum of 45 per cent by 2030 to meet UN climate change goals: the industry “must urgently achieve carbon peak” and neutrality.

In addition to the positive societal aspects, Ding noted improved energy efficiency would help lower operators’ opex, and aid the migration of mobile users from legacy networks to 4G and 5G.