Decarbonizing our
value chain
We must continually manage our industry’s own footprint. We must ensure that the products and solutions we design and deliver to our customers are as energy and material efficient as possible. Our whole value chain must also show improvements in energy efficiency and minimize any potential negative impact from technology.
Our portfolio
According to our life cycle assessment, the GHG emissions from the customer use of sold products remain the largest part of our carbon footprint. As stated above, in 2023 the use phase based on GHG reporting accounted for 97% of our total GHG emissions. Our greatest efforts remain concentrated on reducing the power consumption of our products across Nokia’s portfolio to improve energy efficiency and have the greatest direct impact on our carbon footprint.
In 2023 we delivered energy-efficiency solutions in silicon, hardware, software and services. We worked with our customers to optimize the energy used across their networks, not just looking for energy gains of individual network elements. We assessed the opportunities to improve network performance and minimize energy use, thereby lowering emissions.
We also looked at automatic configuration and AI/ML based optimization of energy savings functionalities, intelligent software capabilities, technology innovations in our HW evolution, and energy-efficient site solutions to minimize our carbon footprint.
Below are a number of examples from our product offering which reflect this work across our portfolio.
- 5G and climate
- Achieving zero emissions radio networks
- Network modernization
- SON energy saving
- Nokia AVA energy efficiency service platform
- Nokia Cloud & Cognitive Solutions portfolio
- Energy efficiency options in core networks
- AI solutions look to create a sustainable future
- Network Planning and Optimization
5G and climate
5G and climate
5G and climate: 5G is considered natively greener than previous generations of mobile technology and can potentially provide 100 times more data traffic with less energy per bit thanks to new standardized efficiency features. This is based on the ITU-R (International Telecommunications Union) design target for 5G radios which is 100x traffic with same energy consumption compared to 4G.
5G is the only radio technology that can help to digitalize societies while also allowing the decoupling of the growth in data traffic from equivalent potential growth in energy consumption. An energy-efficient 5G deployment strategy is the only way to build the best performing, lowest cost 5G radio networks. 5G also provides the foundation for the efficient use of other new technologies (AI. VR.AR, blockchain).
Out of the global pandemic, we have seen the emphasized need for reliable, robust networks. The benefits of these critical networks to other sectors and parts of society far outweigh any potential increases in their own network energy use. But we still drive for greater energy efficiency.
5G and climate
5G and climate: 5G is considered natively greener than previous generations of mobile technology and can potentially provide 100 times more data traffic with less energy per bit thanks to new standardized efficiency features. This is based on the ITU-R (International Telecommunications Union) design target for 5G radios which is 100x traffic with same energy consumption compared to 4G.
5G is the only radio technology that can help to digitalize societies while also allowing the decoupling of the growth in data traffic from equivalent potential growth in energy consumption. An energy-efficient 5G deployment strategy is the only way to build the best performing, lowest cost 5G radio networks. 5G also provides the foundation for the efficient use of other new technologies (AI. VR.AR, blockchain).
Out of the global pandemic, we have seen the emphasized need for reliable, robust networks. The benefits of these critical networks to other sectors and parts of society far outweigh any potential increases in their own network energy use. But we still drive for greater energy efficiency.
Achieving zero emissions radio networks
About 93% of mobile radio network product life cycle emissions occur whilst in use, 7% in manufacturing, 1% in distribution, and -1% at the end of the life of the products. Nokia is developing solutions for all four life cycle phases to minimize the emissions. Network Modernization and 5G are key to decoupling traffic growth from energy consumption increase.
Modernization
Modernization of the legacy 2G/3G/4G base stations with modern Single RAN software and hardware while rolling out new 5G radios can compensate for adding new radio sites, as the modern equipment consumes less energy with advanced sleep mode software features. The sleep mode optimization can be automated by Intelligent energy savings management and enabled by machine-learning algorithms. The customer base station sites we modernized in 2022 used on average 44% less energy than those that were not modernized.
SON energy saving
Traditionally energy efficiency software feature usage is parameterized manually with the same parameters across large radio site clusters to avoid laborious manual work.
SON energy saving modules with machine learning algorithms enable cell-specific parameterization and thanks to continuous analysis of the traffic patterns by cells, it also enables automatic re-configurations based on dynamic changes in traffic patterns. These algorithms help to reduce energy consumption further once the EE SW features are activated.
Nokia: Reduce base station energy consumption with Nokia’s SON Energy Saving Management solution
Nokia AVA energy efficiency service platform
Minimizing energy waste for cooling and other auxiliary components and the reduction of idle resources are critically important levers for energy reduction. Nokia AVA artificial intelligence (AI)-as-a-service combines Nokia’s deep telco knowledge and data science capabilities with leading cloud expertise, giving tailored insights to reduce network energy consumption.
Nokia Cloud & Cognitive Solutions portfolio
Our cloud and cognitive solutions portfolio supports telco operators (CSPs) to gain efficiency in the area of network operation and maintenance. Solutions such as Intelligence alarm clearing, pre-dispatch intelligence and smart mobilization were all piloted in a major operator and will help operators to dramatically reduce the need to travel and access sites for maintenance purpose.
To find out more on how we are combining Nokia’s 5G capable cloud-native algorithms with Intel's processors and software, click here to read a blog from Marcelo Cheminn Madruga.
Energy efficiency options in core networks
The core network has primarily implemented power saving functions provided by underlaying hardware. This is changing as Nokia focuses more sharply also on the application code to help meet rising communications service provider (CSP) demands for energy efficient core solutions. To find out more, read this eBook on the subject.
AI solutions look to create a sustainable future
We have developed a cutting-edge solution that figures out at any given time the minimal number of frequencies that a base station requires to maintain the mobile users’ quality of connection. In other words, our AI algorithm targets which layers can be switched off without adversely affecting performance. This method doesn’t require any expensive changes to the electronic hardware that makes up base stations. Instead, it can be deployed through a straightforward software update on existing infrastructure.
Network Planning and Optimization
Nokia’s digital design and optimization services do not only help achieve traditional performance KPIs, but they also help optimize radio access network energy consumption. This approach is unique in the industry. For a customer in Vietnam, we were able to decrease energy consumption by almost 14% just by adjusting radio output power on radio cell level without any performance degradation.