UPDATED 20:01 EDT / JULY 21 2020

POLICY

Apple vows to make its entire business carbon neutral by 2030

Apple Inc. said today it’s planning to become entirely carbon neutral by the end of the decade.

Apple’s global operations are already carbon neutral, running on 100% renewable energy, but the company wants to extend that to cover its entire supply chain. By the end of 2030, it said, “every Apple device sold will have net zero climate impact.”

The company has launched a series of innovations across its materials processing, product design and supplier operations in order to achieve that goal. In its 2020 Environmental Progress Report, released today, it said these innovations will help to reduce its emissions by 75% by 2030. In addition, it will develop new carbon removal techniques to eliminate the remaining 25% of its carbon footprint.

Apple said in the report that one of the main ways it reduces its devices’ climate impact is by recycling. It has created a new robot called “Dave” that disassembles used iPhones in order to collect the rare earth materials used within them. According to Apple, “Dave” is the successor to its older “Daisy” iPhone disassembly robots.

The Cupertino, California-based firm is also partnering with the U.S.-China Green Fund to invest $100 million in accelerated energy efficiency projects for its suppliers. It said more than 70 of its suppliers have committed to using 100% renewable energy in the production of Apple devices and their components by 2030.

On the materials processing side, Apple said, it has helped to fund the development of a new direct carbon-free aluminum smelting process with two of its suppliers. The new method releases oxygen into the atmosphere instead of greenhouse gases, and is being used for the first time to produce components for its new 16-inch MacBook Pro computer.

Apple is also working with groups such as Conservation International to support the restoration and protection of forests and natural ecosystems across the globe and help remove carbon from the atmosphere through natural processes, it said. This work includes helping to restore degraded savannas in Kenya and a vital mangrove ecosystem in Colombia.

“The innovations powering our environmental journey are not only good for the planet — they’ve helped us make our products more energy efficient and bring new sources of clean energy online around the world,” Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said in a statement. “Climate action can be the foundation for a new era of innovative potential, job creation, and durable economic growth. With our commitment to carbon neutrality, we hope to be a ripple in the pond that creates a much larger change.”

Environmentalists welcomed the move, though Greenpeace USA said it was still unclear precisely how Apple would become carbon neutral. “It is critical to see detailed plans for how the company will pursue deep decarbonization rather than a reliance on offsetting or weak nature-based carbon removal initiatives,” Greenpeace USA Senior Corporate Campaigner Elizabeth Jardim said in a statement.

Constellation Research Inc. analyst Holger Mueller told SiliconANGLE it was good to see Apple making this commitment.

“We only have one world the way we treat it affects our medium and long-term quality of life,” Mueller said. “So becoming carbon neutral in their operations is a key strategy for tech firms to reduce their carbon footprint. Today it’s Apple’s turn, announcing carbon neutrality goals for its operations by 2030.”

Sustainability is becoming a priority for many technology leaders. Amazon.com Inc. CEO Jeff Bezos, for example, announced a $10 billion fund in February to fight climate change. And the company has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2040.

In January, Microsoft Corp. made its own commitment to become carbon negative by 2030, adding that it will also remove all of the carbon emitted by its businesses to date by 2050.

Photo: Free-Photos/Pixabay

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