What does Nokia achieve carbon neutrality? Decarbonization through mobile communication

Nokia Solutions & Networks (Nokia), the Japanese subsidiary of NOKIA, a Finnish telecommunications development vendor, held its event "Connected Future 2021" on October 13 to realize mobile communications. He also explained about efforts toward carbon neutrality in the cellular network that is used by the company and the realization of sustainability goals through IP (patent) portfolio strategies.

Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark gave a presentation remotely using a 3D hologram projection. '' he emphasized.

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Human-induced temperature rise of 1.1 degrees

According to the results of a study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), human-induced global temperatures will rise between 1950 and 2020. It rose about 1.1 degrees. Telecommunications is definitely one of the reasons.

For example, if you shift the viewing method of video content from terrestrial TV to a video streaming service such as "Netflix", greenhouse gas emissions will be about three times higher, and TV image quality will change from HD to It is said that 4K will increase greenhouse gas emissions by about 40%.

It is suggested that if the current pace continues, the temperature will be more than 3.0 degrees higher than now in 80 years. With the aim of significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting human-induced temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, various companies are trying to become carbon neutral.

Nokia Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Tatsuya Yanagihashi said, ``Decarbonization efforts should not be done just with a sense of duty. It is important that there is a business that can be generated by that," he said, showing the company's stance toward carbon neutrality.

Will mobile communications lead to decarbonization?

Where do mobile network greenhouse gas emissions come from in the first place? According to Mr. Yanagihashi, user terminals such as mobile phones, robots, and automobiles account for 47% of the total, while data centers, fixed networks, and mobile networks account for 13% and 11%, respectively, of 29%.

The lifecycle carbon footprint (weight of carbon emitted) of the ICT (information and communication technology) sector is equivalent to 1.4% of the world's carbon emissions and about 4% of the world's electricity data. About a tenth of ICT-related greenhouse gas emissions are due to mobile networks other than existing 5G (fifth generation mobile communication system), and 80% is due to radio access networks.

On the other hand, Mr. Yanagihashi explained that active use of mobile communication will lead to saving of greenhouse gas emissions.

"Mobile communications reduces the need for people and organizations to move and helps avoid vast amounts of greenhouse gas emissions in many ways, including making buildings and transportation systems operate more efficiently. This savings is 10 times the greenhouse gas emissions caused by the network itself,” said Yanagihashi.

Next-generation silicon announcement - 75% reduction in power consumption

In addition to hardware and software modernization, Nokia itself is working on the development of its own silicon, AI (artificial intelligence) automation and Optimization, reuse of waste heat, etc.

On September 21, 2021, the company announced the 5th generation routing silicon "FP5". The FP5 network processor is said to be able to reduce power consumption per transfer capacity by 75% compared to the previous generation. Three times the performance at the same power level. In addition, intelligent aggregation improves accommodation efficiency by 33%.

In addition to saving power consumption, security performance has also been improved. Adds a new layer of network protection with the introduction of ANYsec, a new line-rate, flow-based encryption feature directly integrated into the chipset. Enhanced detection and mitigation of DDoS attacks on routers.

The FP5 is also backwards compatible with the previous generation FP4 and is fully integrated with the latest version of Nokia's Service Router Operating System (SR OS), so when you migrate to new hardware All existing features will be supported from the beginning.

Yasuo Kashimura, General Manager of IP Routing Headquarters, who introduced the functions of FP5 at the same event, said, "FP5 is an important foundation for CSPs (communication service providers) to respond to unexpected future events. We will take action against the increasing impact of global warming and always lead the full-function silicon market," he said enthusiastically.