Apple Solar Farm
Apple continues to step up its environmental efforts, revealing new projects to increase its use of clean energy, and also replenish fresh water supplies by 2030 in advance of Earth Day.
In 2020, Apple committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030, covering everything from its supply chain to the energy used to charge its products. With the April 17 update, it appears that Apple is on track to achieve its goal.
An update published Wednesday morning said Apple and its suppliers now use more than 18 gigawatts of clean energy. This is more than the 13.7 gigawatts used in the supply chain in 20203 and three times the clean energy consumption in 2020.
Apple is making more investments in solar power in the US and Europe, which it says is designed to help clean up the energy used to charge a device.
Apple also made progress toward another goal by replenishing 100 percent of the fresh water used by its corporate operations in high-stress locations.
Progress included creating partnerships to provide nearly 7 billion gallons of water through various projects over the next 20 years. This includes restoring aquifers and rivers and funding access to clean water.
Apple suppliers saved more than 12 billion gallons of fresh water in 2023, with total water savings since the launch of the supplier water treatment program in 2013 now totaling 76 billion gallons.
“Clean energy and water are the foundation of healthy communities and critical building blocks of responsible business,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives. “We are committed to achieving our ambitious Apple 2030 climate goal while committing to long-term work to transform the electricity grid and restore watersheds to build a cleaner future for everyone.”
Apple's report on its environmental efforts is timely given that Earth Day falls on April 22, but it is also part of the company's broader efforts to combat claims of “greenwashing” and encourage more firms to this. the same.
In October, CEO Tim Cook called allegations of greenwashing “reprehensible” and said that despite a corporate culture of secrecy about its products and developments, Apple is trying to be the opposite of its approach to protecting the environment.
“We want to be very open because we want to be copied,” Cook said at the time. “We want to be a ripple in the pond that other people can look at and copy, and [it] has a much greater impact from an environmental standpoint.”
Energetic approach
Currently, more than 320 Apple suppliers have committed to meeting the 2030 commitment. switch to 100 percent renewable energy, which accounts for 95% of Apple's direct manufacturing costs.
This has so far led to the use of 16.5 gigawatts of renewable energy in Apple's supply chains and avoided 18.5 million metric tons of carbon emissions in 2023 alone.
In keeping with Apple's commitment to recoup every watt of electricity users use to charge their devices, Apple's investment includes a portfolio of solar projects in Michigan that will later deliver 132 megawatts of clean energy in 2024.
In Spain, Apple has partnered with solar development platform ib Vogt to invest in a project to generate 105 megawatts of solar power by the end of 2024.
In India, Apple is working with renewable energy developer CleanMax on six rooftop projects that could generate 14.4 megawatts. This will help power local Apple offices, retail stores and other businesses in India.
Progress in China has been significant since Apple linked 12 renewable energy suppliers through the China Clean Energy Fund in 2018. The fund has since exceeded its target, investing more than 1 gigawatt of wind and solar power in projects in 14 provinces.
These Chinese projects are expected to provide more than 2,400 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy each year, equivalent to the household energy consumption of more than 2.5 million people.
Saving water
On the water front, Apple says it has committed more than $8 million since 2023 to replenish freshwater supplies in high-stress waterways. In theory, these projects will help provide a total of 6.9 billion gallons of water over the next two decades.
These projects include a partnership with River Partners of Northern California to restore natural floodplain functioning in a 750-acre area around the Sacramento, Feather River and Butte Creek.
The meeting place of these three is considered an important resting place for local Chinook salmon heading to the Pacific Ocean.
Efforts continue in Southern California to remove Arundo donax reed, an invasive species in the Los Angeles River watershed. The project aims to save 21 million gallons of water per year.
In Phoenix, where Apple's Mesa data center is located, the company is working with the Salt River Project to protect 30,000 acres of forest from serious wildfire risk. A 10-year strategic forest thinning plan in the Colorado River Basin will protect the watershed from wildfires and preserve the upstream reservoir for local communities.
In India, Apple achieved its goal of 100 percent water replenishment for corporate operations in India through its collaboration with the Uptime Catalyst Facility. In 2023, this resulted in more than 300 water kiosks owned by local businesses providing 23 million gallons of water.
Having made its Prineville, Oregon data center the first to be certified by the Alliance for Water Stewardship in 2021, Apple has since received the same certification in four other data centers . He also supported 20 vendor sites to achieve certification.
Apple's green bonds, such as the funds from the 2019 green bonds going toward solar energy projects in Michigan, have contributed to all of this. Since 2016, Apple has issued a total of $4.7 billion in green bonds and has committed $3.4 billion of that amount to date.
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