Huawei: 5G can help address climate change

18 Jul 2019 | Network Updates

Huawei emphasised the important role 5G networks can play in mitigating climate change, at a debate held in the Huawei Cybersecurity Transparency Centre in Brussels last week.

In his remarks, Dr Hui Cao, Head of Strategy and Policy, Huawei EU, underlined that “climate change is here, and we cannot afford to ignore it. Just like digital, green is a horizontal aspect of policy and business“.

Stressing that a facts-based approach would be key when measuring the impact of new technologies such as 5G, Dr Cao pointed out that 5G consumed less energy than 4G. “5G power consumption per bit is a mere 10% of 4G. In other words, 90% of power is saved per bit,” he said.

Huawei today also released its 2018 Sustainability Report, the 11th year in a row it has published the report. The 2018 report explains Huawei's four strategies for sustainability: digital inclusion; security and trustworthiness; environmental protection, and; a healthy, harmonious ecosystem.

Over the past year, Huawei has been working to help achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), build a sustainable and more inclusive ecosystem with its industry partners, and execute its own sustainability strategies.

At the debate, Yingying Li, Head of Comms, Western Europe, Huawei, said: "Huawei has been creating value for its customers through innovation. We are doing everything we can to bridge the digital divide and meet the world's needs for connectivity.”

"We want to make digital services more affordable and equally accessible to all, and to do our part in contributing to social and economic development," she continued.

Ms Li underlined that environmental protection was a key component in Huawei's sustainable development initiatives: "Energy efficiency has become a major consideration for future communications networks. We have to use less energy to transmit more data, while reducing the overall energy consumption of power systems. ICT technologies can help." 

The Huawei 2018 Sustainability Report is available here

The keynote speech delivered by Dr. Hui Cao is available here

This communication was first published 12 July 2019 by Huawei.

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