Towards Sustainable 6G: A Holistic View of Trade-offs and Enablers

TL;DR

This paper discusses the design considerations for 6G networks to ensure sustainability by balancing technological advancements with environmental and societal impacts, highlighting trade-offs and research directions.

Contribution

It provides a holistic framework linking 6G enabling effects with sustainability goals, identifying key trade-offs and research questions for sustainable 6G development.

Findings

Identifies key trade-offs in 6G design for sustainability

Proposes a holistic view connecting 6G effects and sustainability

Suggests research directions for sustainable 6G implementation

Abstract

The sixth generation of mobile networks (6G) can play a central role in shaping a sustainable future, the most compelling contemporary challenge. Connecting the unconnected, reducing carbon emissions of vertical sectors, and allowing heterogeneous types of intelligence (including humans) to safely and constructively interact in complex environments, are only a few of the several challenges that can be supported by 6G. However, this requires a careful design that balances positive and negative impacts of 6G, towards a sustainable and sustainability-enabling technology. This paper presents a holistic view that translates the complex interplay between the 6G enabling effects and the sustainability of 6G by design, into concrete trade-offs and research questions. Starting from today's challenges for society and associated key values, we unfold the dilemma into a set of technical trade-offs, whose solutions span from technological innovations to standardization actions towards applicability.