‍COP26 and net zero targets 

COP26 (2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference) continues this week as global parties meet in Glasgow to discuss how we can accelerate action towards reaching net zero by 2050 and combat the climate change challenge. 

In the third of our #RoadToNetZero blog series, we explore how 5G will support the manufacturing sector to net zero. 

How 5G will advance the manufacturing industry 

The phrase ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ or ‘Industry 4.0’ is often used to reference how modern, smart technologies will transform traditional manufacturing processes. 5G will play a pivotal role in helping this transformation, advancing the sector to bring huge efficiency savings to manufacturing, and, with that, an opportunity for substantial greenhouse gas emission reductions. 

4G technology already plays a major role within the manufacturing industry and how it currently operates. 5G connectivity has the potential to further advance the manufacturing industry, ultimately revolutionising how it moves forward.  

The benefits of smart manufacturing include greater resource efficiency, lower energy consumption, improved health and safety, less pollution and waste, and greater precision meaning fewer faults. 5G connectivity will provide added capabilities that will enhance artificial intelligence capabilities.  

Artificial intelligence 

5G-networks will enhance the capabilities of AI in factory settings. This will ultimately optimise performance, productivity, and lower costs of manufacturing. 

A leading smartphone manufacturer in China installed 5G-connected AI cameras to perform quality assurance checks on its assembly line. As a result, they witnessed an 18-fold increase in the inspection speed compared with the previous manual methods and a 6% reduction in per-unit smartphone energy consumption. 

5G-enabled technology could help the combined G7 manufacturing sectors reduce their total carbon emissions by 1%. The capabilities of 5G are critical to achieving the ambitions of revolutionising manufacturing and meeting the net zero targets.  

Next steps 

Connectivity needs to be in place for the emissions reducing potential of manufacturing to be fulfilled. 

We are encouraging policy makers worldwide to take action swiftly and enable network operators to build 5G networks faster so that we can achieve climate action targets sooner.  

To find out how 5G will help lay the path to net zero take a read of our Climate and Connectivity report here. 

Read here to find out 5G will advance the manufacturing industry.