While mobile communications have fundamentally focused on performance and service quality throughout its evolution, one area often overlooked is sustainability. Operating a national mobile network requires a large amount of energy, and the continually increasing number of devices served by these networks require increasing energy use to fuel the growing demand for mobile data. In reflection of this, mobile networks, communications and devices should contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) through direct and indirect incentives that stimulate the development of new technologies with carbon footprint reduction as a key objective.While technology innovations have provided appreciative energy efficiency through performance per watt, MediaTek proposes that more should be done at the standards-level to ensure that next-generation mobile communications are designed and operated in such a way to minimize their impact on the environment. Now more than ever, investigations into opportunities and innovations in sustainability must be committed, which will contribute to our society’s transformation towards carbon neutrality.
MediaTek’s ESG commitment includes a strong ethos of energy efficiency and carbon neutrality; by 2030 the company will use 100% renewable energy, and by 2050 it will be net-zero, in line with the IEA’s Net Zero Emissions 2050 (NZE2050). Our Chairman, Mr. MK Tsai, puts it succinctly, “The pursuit of sustainability is a never-ending journey. [MediaTek] will continue to connect sustainability with business practices, establish an ecosystem that promotes co-prosperity and shared values, which we hope will in turn have a positive influence on the society and create a sustainable future.”
Our latest white paper focuses on two directions for a sustainable 6G system design: energy efficiency and carbon-awareness. Energy efficiency ultimately aims at minimizing the overall electricity needs of the 6G system, while additionally, a MediaTek study shows that carbon-awareness could enable reducing and limiting the carbon footprint of the 6G system.