“Green Goes 6G: Powering the IoT with Sustainable Environmental Energy”

Recently, 3GPP, IEEE, and Bluetooth SIG have all joined the Ambient IoT ecosystem, with leading players such as Intel, Qualcomm, and Infineon co-founding the Ambient IoT Alliance (AIoTA).

According to DIGITIMES Research, the growing industry focus on Ambient IoT highlights two key factors: first, the increasing importance of ESG and carbon management indicators for enterprises, where battery-free IoT devices can better support business expansion; second, Ambient IoT can address the long-standing operational pain point of service providers having to regularly replace IoT device batteries, thereby accelerating the commercial deployment of IoT applications.

DIGITIMES analyst Chung Yi-Liang noted that traditional IoT devices have relied on modular integration, including sensor modules, communication modules, and battery modules. The service life of these devices has long been constrained by battery capacity, standby and wake-up cycles, wake-up frequency, connection quality, and signal interference. This often necessitates routine and unscheduled battery replacements. In large-scale deployments, operators may even replace still-functional batteries preventively to optimize manpower. Both the cost of batteries and the labor required for maintenance represent significant operational challenges.

Data from Taiwan's Resource Circulation Administration under the Ministry of Environment shows that the total volume of battery recycling grew from 4,414 metric tons in 2015 to 4,855 metric tons in 2024. Notably, the share of lithium batteries has surged, with projections suggesting volumes will exceed 10,000 metric tons in the next 6–7 years. Against a backdrop of stricter regulations and rising environmental awareness, the potential environmental hazards posed by the billions of IoT device batteries worldwide have become a pressing sustainability concern.

Ambient IoT devices harvest energy from the environment—such as photovoltaics, radio frequency, thermoelectric, and piezoelectric sources—achieving energy neutrality and battery-free self-powering capability. In the UK, Royal Mail has deployed Ambient IoT across 850,000 reusable york mail cages, enabling real-time, visible tracking of asset IDs, locations, temperature, and humidity. Combined with reducing flights, adopting hydrogenated vegetable oil fuels, and electrifying smaller vehicles, this initiative has lowered carbon emissions per parcel by about 20%. Overall, compared with FY2020–2021, Royal Mail cut total carbon emissions by 25%—with Scope 1 and 2 (direct and energy-indirect) emissions down 27%, and Scope 3 (other indirect) emissions down 24%—positioning the company as an ESG leader in its sector.

Looking ahead, in addition to industry leaders advancing cross-protocol support through the Ambient IoT Alliance, the EU has launched the “Ambient 6G" project as part of its space economy strategy. This initiative combines academic, industrial, and research efforts to support 6G transformation, achieve energy neutrality, and strengthen Europe's communications sovereignty. To reinforce its industrial ecosystem, the EU is expected to enhance upstream materials, midstream key components, and downstream module integration, while leveraging R&D subsidies, academic-industry pilot projects, and supply-chain collaboration to bolster self-sufficiency and global competitiveness across the entire value chain.

Source of Information: Twlo TA