According to the Cupertino-based company, this represents more than 85 percent of the company’s direct manufacturing spend and more than 20 gigawatts in commitments.
Apple is already carbon neutral for its global corporate emissions and it now aims for the 2030 goal of carbon neutrality for every product. This includes $4.7 billion in Green Bonds, which are helping finance the expansion of clean energy solutions and emissions reductions around the world. Apple's green tech investments for 2022 include large-scale solar, low-carbon design, energy efficiency, and carbon removal.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said that "we’re carbon neutral for our own operations and innovating every day to go even further in the urgent work to address climate change. With partners around the world, we’re adding even more renewable energy to power our global supply chain and investing in next-generation green technologies."
Apple's commitment to the energy transition
More than 40 manufacturing partners joined Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy Program in the last year. Apple has called on its suppliers to decarbonize all company-related operations, including sourcing 100 percent renewable electricity.
To help them meet their commitments Apple works with suppliers to identify and implement solutions for clean energy and carbon reductions — offering a suite of free learning resources and live trainings through its Clean Energy Academy.
Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, said that "our new supplier commitments demonstrate the rapid pace of progress we’re making toward our 2030 carbon neutrality goal. We are taking urgent action on a global scale to unlock a greener, more innovative, and more resilient future."
Since 2019, the operational renewable energy across Apple’s global supply chain has expanded five times over, now totaling 13.7 gigawatts. This equated to 17.4 million metric tons of avoided carbon emissions last year — the equivalent of removing nearly 3.8 million cars from the road.
Apple also supports about 1.5 gigawatts of renewable electricity around the world to power all corporate offices, data centers, and retail stores, spanning 44 countries. The company has also invested directly in nearly 500 megawatts of solar and wind in China and Japan to address upstream supply chain emissions.
Thirty European manufacturing partners are committed to clean energy, with six — including Viscom AG and Victrex — already achieving 100 percent renewable electricity for their Apple loads. Bosch Sensortec GmbH, which recently joined Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy Program, and VARTA Microbattery GmbH are achieving 100 percent renewable electricity through green utility power.
Renewable energy for clean charging Apple devices
The projects supported by the 2019 Green Bond are expected to mitigate more than 13.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over their lifetime. Beyond building capacity for renewable energy across the supply chain, Apple’s Green Bond investments last year supported a wide range of environmental innovation across the business, including low-carbon design, energy efficiency, and the expansion of renewable energy in grids around the world.
For example, the 2019 Green Bond helped fund the IP Radian Solar project that recently became operational in Brown County, Texas, with a project that now produces 320 megawatts of electricity. Apple invested in the project to help address the carbon impact of the energy Apple customers use to charge their devices.
The bond also supported the company’s utility-scale battery located at the California Flats Solar Project in Monterey, California, which became operational in 2022. The large battery stores up to 240 megawatt-hours of renewable electricity for later use, when the carbon intensity of the grid is highest. This helps to address the intermittency of renewable power across the state.
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