2024-04-04 09:30:00
As the impact of digital technology continues to grow, controlling the deployment of mobile networks appears to be a key part of decarbonization strategies.
According to assessments by The Shift Project, networks represent 12% of the global carbon impact of digital technology. But according to other assessments, this impact could rise to 25-35%. “ Networks are important in quantitative terms, but also dynamic”, warns Maxime Efoui-Hess, “digital” project coordinator at The Shift Project. The association chaired by Jean-Marc Jancovici publishes the new report “ Energy, climate: Strategy for sober and resilient digital networks ».
And it must be said that the impact of digital technology is still growing, going against all of the sector’s decarbonization objectives. Digital growth now comes largely from mobile networks. “ If we look at the electricity consumption of network infrastructures around the world, mobile networks are increasing by +12% per year and today represent 60% of total network consumption. », summarizes Maxime Efoui-Hess. Among these infrastructures, the installation of satellite constellations in low orbit presents a particularly worrying dynamic. The main cause is the deployment of mobility uses “ to have access to all content, from anywhere, anytime »adds the expert.
Decarbonization targets far from being achieved
At the global level, digital players have committed to reducing their emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2020. In France, this requires reducing these emissions by 30% between these two horizons, estimates The Shift Project. The organization explored the effect of a trend scenario, then of a so-called “ exponential » with increased deployment of technologies like artificial intelligence, internet of things, virtual and augmented reality after 2030.” We have a three-fold increase in greenhouse gas emissions and up to 5 terawatt hours (TWh) more electricity consumption in 2035”warns Maxime Efoui-Hess.
This calls for choices to be made now. Maxime Efoui-Hess explains: “ 5 TWh is exactly what we need to decarbonize all the fertilizers we need in France in 2050. If we deploy digital ideas in all directions, there will be electricity that we don’t have. will not have for anything else. […] We will have to choose between the virtual world and low-carbon eating, or virtual worlds and low-carbon driving. » With all sectors wanting more electricity, decision-makers will indeed be called upon to favor certain choices of technological developments rather than others, in order to direct electricity as a priority.
Ecodesign insufficient to control the impact
The Shift Project still wanted to know if the objectives were achievable with the commitments already made. And this is where the problem lies: despite a systemic eco-design of network infrastructure and controlled growth based on individual sobriety, greenhouse gas emissions from mobile networks in France do not even manage to reach 2020 levels.
Three quarters of the impacts of digital technology for 2030 were determined by the choices made in 2020 and included in the specifications of regulators, then in the economic strategies of operators and digital service players, explains The Shift Project. “ The best we can do is to return in 2035 to levels [d’émissions des réseaux mobiles en France] of 2020 », assures Maxime Efoui-Hess. To achieve this, systemic eco-design must be combined with individual and collective sobriety.
Before the deployment of 6G, the question will therefore be to rework the regulators’ specifications to regain control over uses. The objective must be to “ put the next generation at the service of decarbonization and maintaining the impact below a certain threshold”and no “not at the service of virtual worlds », warns the expert from The Shift Project. The idea would therefore be to condition deployments and investments on quantified impact studies to verify compatibility with the trajectory of reducing emissions.
In the meantime, the association recommends collective reorganization towards sobriety with the targeted deployment of technologies such as 5G. Finally, a key challenge lies in training all stakeholders in innovation and deployment on the impacts of the technological choices they fuel.
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