It matters that Apple is working toward carbon neutrality

This is not a drill.

Unless you’re a huge fan of crop failure, flooding in the desert, or temperatures heading to be high enough to fry eggs in mid-air, then you should be standing on every table in every office everywhere demanding the company you work for works toward environmental sustainability.

Every company must aspire to match or even exceed Apple in this. Deniers will deny it, but I believe your future is at stake.

Positive action is important

That’s why it matters that Apple’s latest Green Bonds report shows it has once again increased its global investment in clean energy and water around the world.

That’s why it matters that Apple, and its suppliers now support three times as much clean energy as they did three years ago. And that’s why it matters that it is attempting to save and to create clean water across its supply chain.

Statistics matter when you’re among the world’s biggest consumer electronics companies.

It matters that Apple wants to replenish 100 percent of the fresh water used in corporate operations. It matters that Apple is investing in lots of projects, including river and aquifer restoration to drinking water projects.

Every company – every government and every local authority should be doing the same, rather than investing in what will become a forever war as an increasingly desperate global population struggles for the remaining resources.

Mad Max as an instruction manual? It is beginning to look that way.

Apple is a jewel in this fractured garden

Apple is a jewel in our fractured garden. The company and its suppliers have achieved some noteworthy landmarks in the struggle to at least improve the environmental credentials of its supply chain.

Sure, critics will murmur words like “green wash”, but until every company commits to at least just matching what Apple is doing then that criticism is utterly misplaced. They should aspire to do more.

Some statistics for change

Here are some statistics to prove the point:

• Over 320 Apple suppliers — 95 percent of Apple’s direct manufacturing spend — have embraced renewable energy, resulting in 16.5 gigawatts of renewable energy online in Apple’s supply chain today.
• In the U.S., Apple is investing in a portfolio of solar projects across Michigan to bring 132 megawatts of clean energy online later this year.
• In Spain, Apple has partnered to generate 105 megawatts of solar power by the end of the year.
• In India, Apple is investing in =rooftop solar projects with a total size of 14.4 megawatts to power its retail stores and offices there.
• The now six-year old China Clean Energy Fund has delivered over 1 gigawatt of new wind and solar projects in China across 14 provinces.
• Since 2023, Apple has so far committed over $8 million to replenishing fresh water in high-stress watersheds.

• In the greater Phoenix area, home to Apple’s Mesa data center, Apple is working with Salt River Project (SRP) to protect approximately 30,000 acres of forest at severe risk of wildfire. This should help deliver nearly 2 billion gallons of water benefits in the area.
• In 2021, Apple’s data center in Prineville, Oregon, became the first-ever data center certified to the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) International Water Stewardship Standard, a trusted global framework for measuring responsible water stewardship.
• Last year, Apple achieved its target for 100 percent water replenishment for the company’s corporate operations in India through its ongoing work with Uptime Catalyst Facility.
• In 2023, Apple’s support provided 23 million gallons of clean, affordable drinking water to communities from over 300 water kiosks.
• Since 2016, Apple has issued a total of $4.7 billion in Green Bonds, with approximately $3.4 billion allocated to date.

All of this stuff is a drop in the ocean compared to the scale of the many problems humans face as varying forms of complacency drive our world to overheat.

Existentialism

While the scale of what Apple has achieved in this – and continues to achieve — is colossal, the problems themselves are existential.

Apple is clearly attempting to play its part to resolve some of these challenges, and it seems to me is somewhat unique in recognizing that access to water and energy is something that needs to be put in place across emerging economies as well as the mature ones that creates these challenges in the first place.

Final words to Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives:

“Clean energy and water are foundational to healthy communities and essential building blocks for a responsible business,” she said.

“We’re racing toward our ambitious Apple 2030 climate goal while taking on the long-term work to transform electrical grids and restore watersheds to build a cleaner future for all.”

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