Commercial, GHG Emissions, Sourcing Renewables  -  July 21, 2020

Apple to be carbon neutral throughout supply chain by 2030

Apple announced July 21 their plan to be carbon neutral across their entire business, manufacturing supply chain and product life cycle before 2030 that every product sold has a net-zero climate impact.

The tech giant already previously achieved carbon neutrality and 100% renewable energy in their corporate emissions worldwide and also just released their new plans to reduce emissions by 75% before 2030 while investing in ways to remove carbon from the remaining 25% of their footprint.

“Businesses have a profound opportunity to help build a more sustainable future, one born of our common concern for the planet we share,” CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. “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. 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.”

To increase their energy efficiency, Apple plans to lower energy use through their partnership with the U.S.-China Green Fund, which will invest $100 million in accelerated efficiency projects for Apple’s suppliers. In 2019, the 92 facilities participating in Apple’s Supplier Energy Efficiency Program avoided over 779,000 metric tons of carbon emissions annually, while Apple saved $27 million by investing in efficiency upgrades to over 6.4 million square feet of new and existing buildings.

More than 70% of Apple’s suppliers have committed to using 100% renewable energy for Apple production, a project that is expected to avoid more than 14.3 million metric tons of CO2e annually. With new projects in Arizona, Oregon and Illinois, the company’s renewable energy capacity for their own operations is over 1 GW.

Going forward, Apple will launch an “Impact Accelerator” that invests in minority-owned businesses to improve the sustainability of communities disproportionately affected by climate change. They are also investing in solutions to remove carbon from the atmosphere around the world.

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