Parul
As big companies invests billions of dollars into building a sustainable future, innovations in clean energy, materials and recycling are helping iPhone maker Apple meet its environmental goals.
Apple has cut its overall greenhouse gas emissions by more than 55 per cent since 2015 and the goal centres on reducing emissions by 75 per cent from 2015 levels.
The ‘Supplier Clean Energy Programme’ now supports over 16.5 gigawatts of renewable energy around the world, including in India.
With this, more than 100 supplier facilities achieved over 2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity savings last year, according to the company.
“Together with additional energy savings — primarily associated with heat — these facilities avoided nearly 1.7 million metric tonnes of carbon emissions, up 25 per cent from 2022, the company mentioned in its ‘2024 Environmental Progress Report’.
In India, renewable energy company CleanMax has partnered with Apple to accelerate renewable energy adoption in the country.
As part of the initiative, CleanMax has installed 14.4 megawatts of rooftop solar installations across six industrial sites in the country.
The company is also working to tackle the direct climate impact of industrial processes, like the manufacturing of flat-panel displays, which emits highly potent fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-GHGs).
In 2023, about 56 per cent of the cobalt shipped in Apple batteries came from recycled sources, more than double the year before.
That includes the MacBook Air with M3, the first-ever Apple product to be made with 50 per cent recycled material.
About 24 per cent of the lithium shipped in Apple batteries last year came from certified recycled sources.
According to Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, the company has slashed emissions by more than half, while serving more users than ever before.
“More hard work is ahead of us, and we’re focused on harnessing the power of innovation and collaboration to maximise our impact,” Jackson mentioned.
The company has also made strides with copper, using 100 per cent recycled copper in key thermal applications in iPhone 15 and the 16-inch MacBook Pro.
