Apple on Climate Change

How climate change is being handled by a tech giant? Apple says to be completely carbon neutral by 2030, including its supply chain. To achieve this, the American giant is counting on the development of innovative solutions and promises to invest in projects to combat climate change.

The company – which prides itself on being carbon neutral for its business activities – wants to go even further and fully decarbonize all of its activities by 2030, including its supply chain.

The objective is that the manufacture and sale of its devices no longer have any impact on the environment. Note that Apple’s latest environmental report, which covers fiscal year 2018, estimates its carbon footprint at 25.2 million tonnes.

INVESTING IN PROJECTS TO ELIMINATE CO2

More specifically, the American giant aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 75% by 2030 by developing in parallel “innovative carbon elimination solutions” for the remaining 25%. Among these solutions, Apple cites tree planting and habitat restoration. It will also invest in various projects including a mangrove ecosystem (marine swamps) in Colombia to eliminate or store carbon dioxide. However, the company did not specify the amount of its participation.

Regarding its supply chain, Apple indicates that it will focus on eliminating so-called “scope 3” emissions. They correspond to emissions indirectly produced by activities such as the purchase of raw materials, services or other products, employee travel, upstream and downstream transport of goods, management of waste generated by the activities of the organization, use and end. life of products and services sold, immobilization of goods and production equipment, etc.

AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE – ESTABLISHING  A 100 MILLION DOLLAR FUND

According to their recent reports, 74% of its global carbon dioxide emissions are generated by product manufacturing. To deal with this manufacturing-related pollution, Apple said it will help set up a $ 100 million “US-China Green Fund” to provide capital investments to suppliers for energy efficiency projects.

The company also announces that it has worked with its suppliers to reduce emissions by using recycled materials, specifying that its iPhones now use recycled rare earth elements in a component called “taptic engine”. Extraction of rare earth elements is an energy intensive activity where recycling is too expensive to be profitable. To overcome this problem, Apple explains having created a robot to recover the materials of some of its devices.

MICROSOFT WANTS TO “ERASE” ITS CARBON FOOTPRINT

Apple’s efforts in the environmental sector are comparable to those made by other large tech companies such as Microsoft, which has announced its intention to “wipe out” its carbon footprint by 2030 by injecting a billion dollars into a fund. “climate innovation” to boost the development of “negative emission technologies” (NET).

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