By Gaurav Sharma, Digital Sustainability Product Manager, and Ankur Jain, Director Infrastructure Solutions (AMEA) at BT Group
For Australian enterprises entering 2026 planning cycles, sustainability is no longer sitting alongside network strategy. It’s actively shaping it.
With Australia’s net-zero commitments, emerging climate disclosure obligations, and the physical realities of distance, energy costs, and regional connectivity challenges, the network has become one of the most decisive levers for reducing environmental impact while enabling growth.
For CIOs, CTOs, and sustainability leaders, the question is no longer whether to act, but how intelligently connectivity can be designed, consumed, and operated to meet compliance requirements and manage risk.
This is where the next generation of networks, built around Network-as-a-Service (NaaS), flexible yet resilient architectures with AI-driven intelligence, will play a defining role for Australian organisations managing legacy infrastructure, APAC complexity, and the operational realities of remote and regional operations.
1. From efficient infrastructure to intelligent networks:
For years, Australian organisations pursued sustainable networking through efficiency gains: lower-power equipment, consolidation, and data centre optimisation.
That foundation remains critical, but given Australia’s energy costs, geographic dispersal, and climate exposure, it’s no longer sufficient to meet emerging reporting obligations or manage operational risk.
In 2026, the biggest sustainability gains will come from intelligent networks that adapt in real time, particularly critical for Australian organisations managing long-haul connectivity and resilience to climate events.
AI-driven connectivity can dynamically allocate bandwidth, power down unused capacity, predict demand, and route traffic based not only on performance, but on energy efficiency.
For boards and sustainability leaders, this represents a shift from discretionary sustainability initiatives to operational and reporting requirements.
Sustainability becomes an outcome of network design decisions being made now, not a separate initiative layered on after deployment.
In 2026, the greenest network is the one that thinks in real time
Australia’s energy costs, geographic dispersal, and climate exposure mean sustainable networking can’t rely on “efficiency upgrades” alone. The next wave of emissions and resilience gains comes from intelligent networks that continuously optimise how connectivity is used.
The efficiency era (still essential)
For years, Australian organisations targeted sustainable networking through lower-power equipment, consolidation, and data centre optimisation.
Why it’s no longer enough
That foundation remains critical, but Australia’s energy costs, geographic dispersal, and climate exposure mean it won’t meet emerging reporting obligations—or fully manage operational risk—on its own.
Where the biggest 2026 gains come from
Intelligent networks that adapt in real time—especially important for long-haul connectivity and resilience to climate events.
What AI-driven connectivity can do
- Dynamically allocate bandwidth
- Power down unused capacity
- Predict demand
- Route traffic based on energy efficiency, not only performance
What it means for leaders
- Sustainability shifts from discretionary initiatives to operational and reporting requirements
- Network design becomes a direct driver of sustainability outcomes
- Operational resilience and reporting are increasingly linked to how connectivity is consumed
Bottom line: Sustainability becomes an outcome of network design decisions being made now—rather than a separate initiative layered on after deployment.
2. NaaS reshapes consumption and carbon impact:
For Australian organisations weighing investment trade-offs, one of the most significant shifts underway is the move away from static, over-provisioned legacy networks toward on-demand, consumption-based connectivity. This is a shift that addresses both capital efficiency and carbon impact.
NaaS mirrors what cloud did for compute: organisations no longer build for peak demand “just in case”. Instead, they scale up and down as needed, reducing idle capacity, unnecessary hardware, and embedded emissions.
In 2026, NaaS becomes not just a commercial or operational choice, but a compliance and risk management tool, particularly for Australian organisations with disclosure obligations and boards demanding defensible carbon reporting alongside network resilience.
3. NaaS’ architectures reduce digital sprawl
Australian organisations managing APAC operations, regional and remote sites, and long-haul connectivity often still operate fragmented networks stitched together over time.
This is a legacy that creates operational, financial, and environmental costs that are increasingly difficult to defend to boards and auditors.
A unified global network simplifies connectivity across locations, clouds, and partners. With fewer layers, organisations will be able to define “flight paths” for the workloads in transit, optimise network routes, reduce retransmissions, duplication and data shuffling.
The more integrated the network, the easier it becomes to measure, optimise, and ultimately reduce its environmental footprint and the stronger the foundation for defensible reporting and governance assurance.
4.AI is a sustainability multiplier and a test of responsibility
In 2026, AI has become central to enterprise strategy. However, for Australian organisations facing high energy costs and disclosure requirements, AI infrastructure decisions also carry material carbon and reporting implications.
This creates a clear governance question for CTOs and boards: how do we scale AI while managing energy risk, meeting compliance obligations, and producing defensible carbon accounting?
Part of the answer lies in the network. AI-enabled networks can enable organisations to implement green routes by directing traffic to utilise renewable energy sources and energy-efficient infrastructure.
Organisations that design network connectivity with energy awareness built in, rather than bolted on later, will be better positioned to meet reporting requirements and demonstrate AI infrastructure responsibility. The network becomes a tool for governance and transparency, not merely a transport layer.
5. Carbon visibility becomes operational, not just reported
With Australian climate disclosure obligations taking effect, sustainability reporting is no longer optional or annual. It is becoming an operational requirement.
In 2026, boards and sustainability leaders will expect granular, auditable insight into network energy use and emissions, alongside traditional metrics such as latency and resilience.
Carbon transparency, granular visibility into network energy use and emissions, becomes a tool for governance, enabling more defensible trade-offs in network strategy decisions: performance versus energy use, resilience versus footprint, investment priorities versus compliance requirements.
Networks that can surface these insights provide the foundation for assurance, helping Australian organisations move from retrospective reporting to active risk management and demonstrable carbon reduction.
Key Takeaway
For Australian enterprises planning for 2026, sustainability is now a core network driver — shaped by net-zero commitments, emerging climate disclosure obligations, and Australia’s distance, high energy costs, climate exposure, and regional connectivity constraints.
The biggest gains move beyond basic efficiency (lower-power gear, consolidation, data-centre optimisation) to AI-driven networks that adapt in real time: allocating bandwidth, powering down unused capacity, predicting demand, and routing traffic for energy efficiency as well as performance.
Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) shifts organisations from static, over-provisioned legacy networks to on-demand, consumption-based connectivity, cutting idle capacity, unnecessary hardware, and embedded emissions — making NaaS a 2026 compliance and risk tool for boards seeking defensible carbon reporting alongside resilience.
Unified architectures also reduce digital sprawl across APAC and remote sites, cutting retransmissions, duplication, and data shuffling, while climate disclosure pressures push carbon visibility into granular, auditable operational metrics, not annual reports.
