Spectrum: the Climate Connection

Spectrum policy and carbon emissions

The potential for spectrum policy to help tackle climate change has recently garnered increased interest and focus among regulators. Efficient use of spectrum can lead to a reduction in carbon emissions while simultaneously generating economic benefits to society. Inefficient spectrum policy can raise the cost of building and operating mobile networks and lower the adoption of emission-saving technologies.

This report examines the impact of four spectrum policy aspects that can vary between countries: the timeliness of spectrum assignments; amount of spectrum assigned; level of fragmentation; and flexibility to use spectrum for different technologies.

The analysis helps gain an understanding of how efficient spectrum policy can support the race to net zero, reducing the carbon emissions of the mobile sector and increasing mobile’s enablement effect in helping other sectors tackle climate change.