Apple Environment

In a press release today, Apple touted the significant progress it has made as part of its $4.7 billion Green Bond. Thanks to the bond, Apple has generated more than 1.2 gigawatts of clean power, removing an average of 921,000 metric tons of carbon emissions annually. In 2016, Apple issued its first bond of $1.5 billion towards the project, followed by $1 billion in 2017. In 2019, Apple...

Apple CEO Tim Cook today delivered a brief speech during the 2020 Climate Ambition Summit, stressing that leaders of nations and companies around the world have a "burden to act" to address climate change during this "moment of historic urgency." The summit is co-hosted by the United Nations, United Kingdom, and France. In his prepared remarks, Cook highlighted Apple's environmental...

Technology companies like Apple are contributing to e-waste by making their products difficult to repair, and charging expensive repair fees, according to a lengthy report published today by the UK Parliament's Environmental Audit Committee. "We were told that Apple glues and solders parts together on their laptops, which makes repairing them very difficult," the Committee wrote in a summary ...

After failing to appear before British lawmakers, Apple has been accused of not taking its environmental obligations seriously enough, particularly on e-waste, reports Bloomberg. Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked to appear before the Environmental Audit Select Committee of the House of Commons, but failed to respond before a September 4 deadline. Apple was previously asked to put forward a...

Apple has today announced that it will construct two of the world's largest onshore wind turbines near Esbjerg in Denmark, in an expansion of its investment in renewable energy. Via a press release, Apple explained that the new 200-meter-tall turbines will produce 62 gigawatt hours of energy every year, enough to power almost 20,000 homes. The area will also function as a test site for...

Apple today announced a target of becoming carbon neutral across its entire business and manufacturing supply chain by 2030. Apple is already carbon neutral across its global corporate operations, and this new commitment means that by 2030, every Apple device sold will have net zero climate impact. "Businesses have a profound opportunity to help build a more sustainable future, one born of...

Apple's vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives Lisa Jackson today participated in the Earth Day Live series on Twitch, where she talked about Apple's environmental efforts. Jackson started things off by speaking a bit about her background and what inspired her to advocate for the environment and join the EPA prior to taking on her current role at Apple. Before coming...

Apple CEO Tim Cook and a group of other CEOs, including Google's Sundar Pichai and Microsoft's Satya Nadella, have jointly signed a letter urging the Trump administration to keep the United States a member of the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement aims to combat climate change by keeping the global temperature rise this century well below 2ºC above pre-industrial levels. The United States ...

Apex Clean Energy today announced that Apple is leading a group of companies that has committed to purchase approximately 75 megawatts of energy from an upcoming wind farm in Texas. Sprint, eBay, and Samsung have all partnered with Apple on the agreement, and the full 500-megawatt White Mesa Wind project is scheduled to come online in early 2021. Shared energy purchases like this allow...

Prior to delivering the keynote address at the Ceres sustainability gala in New York City this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke briefly with GQ about the company's environmental efforts, iPhone trade-ins, and more. Apple has heavily promoted its iPhone trade-in program at its retail stores and on its website over the last year, and Cook said the increased emphasis has been effective, noting...

Apple today announced that it is the first company to receive a Green Supply Chain CITI Outstanding Brand award for its environmental efforts in China, specifically its contributions towards making its entire supply chain more environmentally responsible. Apple announced the news on its Chinese site (via 9to5Mac), and said that as a CITI brand, the company will continue to maintain a "superior ...

Last year, Apple announced the launch of a $300 million Clean Energy Fund in China to connect suppliers with renewable energy sources. Apple and 10 of its suppliers in China will invest nearly $300 million by 2022 to develop projects totaling one gigawatt of renewable energy. In a press release today, Apple said that includes three wind firms in Hunan and Hubei that will generate...

Apple today announced it has partnered with non-profit organization RESOLVE to seek out innovative ways to source gold responsibly. The problem: gold mining operations in Alaska and the Yukon region have resulted in a reduction in the salmon population in the creeks and streams being mined. RESOLVE's solution: combine mining with habitat restoration to improve the streams so that salmon and...

Apple had more installed solar energy capacity in the United States than any other company as of the end of 2018, according to a new report released by the Solar Energy Industries Association (via CNBC). Apple led the way with 393.3 megawatts of installed solar energy capacity, topping Amazon and Target at 329.8 megawatts and 242.4 megawatts respectively. Google trailed in sixth with 142.9...

Will Smith, his wife Jada Smith, and his son Jaden Smith today visited Apple Park to discuss the environment and Jaden's Just Water company, according to a tweet Apple CEO Tim Cook shared on Twitter this evening. Just Water is a water company that sells ethically sourced spring water in paper-based bottles with sugarcane caps, all of which is more environmentally friendly than a standard...

Apple has opened a new lab that will study how it can expand upon its current recycling processes through machine learning and robotics. The company announced the news today, along with other environmentally-focused updates, including that it will quadruple the number of locations where United States customers can send their iPhone to be disassembled by its recycling robot Daisy in a major...

Apple today announced it has nearly doubled the number of suppliers that have committed to run their Apple-specific production on 100 percent renewable energy, bringing the total number to 44. The list of newly committed suppliers includes, among others, Gorilla Glass maker Corning, Face ID module provider Finisar, A-series chipmaker TSMC, Apple Watch manufacturer Quanta Computer, AirPods...

Apple is partnering up with Akamai, Etsy, and Swiss Re to develop two new wind and solar energy farms in Illinois and Virginia, the companies announced today. The new energy projects are set to generate 290 megawatts for the PJM electric grid in the Eastern United States, covering areas like Virginia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. A solar farm in China As a collective,...

Apple today announced the launch of a $300 million investment fund in China which is designed to connect Apple's suppliers with renewable energy sources. Apple, along with 10 initial suppliers, is investing $300 million into the China Clean Energy Fund over the course of the next four years. Apple says the fund will invest in and develop clean energy projects totaling more than 1 gigawatt of...

Apple today shared its 2018 environmental report [PDF], outlining all of the improvements and changes that were implemented throughout 2017 and early 2018 to lessen the company's overall environmental impact. As was announced earlier this month, Apple recently hit a major milestone and longtime environmental goal, with 100 percent of its operations around the world powered by renewable energy. ...