How to reduce the environmental impact of 5G?

In December 2020, the Supreme Climate Council (HCC) warned: With the advent of 5G, the risk of a “significant increase” in greenhouse gas emissions looms. Depending on the scenarios, this new generation of mobile phones will emit 2.7 to 6.7 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2030, adding to the current digital carbon footprint of 15 million tons of CO2-equivalent in 2020. Meanwhile, Phone operators were speeding up the deployment of this new technology. According to the latest Arcep survey, 19,917 antennas were activated on March 31, 2022 in major French cities, including municipalities such as Bordeaux, Lyon, Paris or Marseille that called for a “moratorium”. So, is it already too late to prevent slipping?

For some of the experts I interviewed for JDD, there was still time to limit the damage. Because if operators increase their communication operations around 5G packages, this technology is still in its infancy. Currently, only the radio frequencies in the 3.5GHz band have been sold for auction. The real turning point will come with the assignment of the 26 GHz band, which has yet to be planned.

Delayed replacement of the phone

“In the very short term, the critical issue is ensuring that the deployment of 5G does not lead to premature obsolescence of all 4G smartphones,” warns Frederic Burdag, founder of the GreenIT community, always devoted to information technology, and author of the book. Digital Sobriety, Keys to Action (2019).

Not compatible with current phones, 5G risks ruining efforts to extend the life of devices. However, plant manufacturing accounts for 80% of France’s digital technology carbon footprint, according to a report by Shift Project, a research center specializing in environmental transformation. “It takes 70 kilograms of greenhouse gases, 1,000 liters of water and 60 tons of dirt to extract rare metals,” recalls Frédéric Bordage.

For this professional, the challenge is to provide better information to citizens who are lured by this new technology. “5G will not offer radically different services in the short term,” he says, “and 4G and 5G will coexist for years to come.” In short, there is no urgent necessity to replace his phone, “except for the player who wants to play in HD on TGV”.

Mutual antennas

Another suggestion from Frédéric Bordage: “We can imagine bundling 5G networks, like fiber and ADSL.” This will avoid multiple antennas such as two operators in the same perimeter. “Mismanagement of environmental and economic plans,” the expert frowns. Especially since the 26 GHz band, the waves of which are of short range, will require the installation of many antennas.

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We can restrict the use of 5G to specific places, to de-saturate in dense areas or vice versa in remote areas

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Where operators pledge to have 5G available everywhere, GreenIT suggests, on the contrary, to limit its penetration in certain regions. This is also the opinion of Hugues Ferreboeuf, Shift Project’s Digital and Environment Project Manager. “We can limit the use of 5G to specific places, to desaturate the dense areas, or vice versa in remote areas where the installation of fibers will be more costly both financially and environmentally,” he explains. But Arcep’s specification goes beyond that rasterized scenario, he says.

Moderate use, limit video viewing

Hugues Ferreboeuf also imagines franchising certain uses that are beneficial to the company, rather than others. In the context of resource scarcity, “it is no longer reasonable to have a sector whose energy consumption is increasing by 6 to 7% annually, the main reason being for leisure or convenience uses.” From her perspective, the insatiable rise in online video, which 5G should encourage. This generation of mobile phones will also promote cloud games, IoT and virtual reality, which consume a lot of energy.

“The solution involves moderation in uses and moderation on the part of suppliers, because demand today is strongly stimulated by supply. This means giving consumers the power to make informed decisions. Why and build public policies that promote virtuous offers,” says Hugues Ferreboeuf.

Environmental digital services design

Frédéric Bordage talks about “misuse”, like listening to music on Youtube, with a video stream consuming much more energy than podcast or radio. In other words: our internet habits waste bandwidth and end up saturating the network. He compares “5G to a bandage that we put on an infected wound that allows us to continue the defect.”

On the contrary, it advocates eco-design for online content and services. Several tools exist: blocking automatic playback of videos, giving users the choice between simple and low identification, informing Internet users in real time of the carbon footprint associated with their online activities, etc.

Bill considered in the council

These recommendations join the recommendations of the Supreme Climate Council, whose report calls for raising awareness among individuals and companies and extending the life of devices. This expert panel also recommends forcing operators to control their carbon footprint. Dans sa feuille de route “numérique et environnement”, rendue publique le 23 février dernier, le gouvernement a cité la “prise en compte des enjeux environnementaux dans les cahiers des charges de futures attributions de fréquences 5G” parmi les mesett qu’il To his place.

The Ecodesign Depot, Infrastructure Sharing, and the fight against aging … many of these avenues are being examined at this very moment by lawmakers under the bill to reduce the environmental footprint of digital technology, which was adopted January 12 in the Senate.

Also read – for the first time, a bill addressing the digital environmental footprint

Controlling the carbon footprint of 5G networks, an illusory goal?

But these signs do not convince all the experts. Skeptical of the effects of the proposed law, CNRS engineer Françoise Berthoud calls for a “5G boycott”. “The right approach is to do everything to extend the life of the equipment but without giving in to the 5G network; the two are working together,” warns the founder of EcoInfo, a group of researchers and engineers about the impact of the digital environment.

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These measures are meaningless if we simultaneously suggest a network that allows new uses to be deployed.

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According to Françoise Berthoud, once the 5G infrastructure is established, the damage will be done. Despite efforts to counter some negative impacts, “the economic system will find a way to sell something else,” as you expect. In conclusion: “These procedures are meaningless if a network is proposed at the same time that allows the deployment of new services, new uses, and new organisms …” Specialists agree on one point: Without a major topic change in the digital business model, we should not expect a miracle.