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Apple and suppliers claim they used renewable energy equal to electricity needed to power 600,000 US homes in 2018.
Tech giant Apple has claimed to have reduced its carbon footprint for the third year in a row in 2018 and said that 44 of its suppliers now run 100pc on renewable energy.
Because of this the company says that it will exceed its goal of bringing four gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy into its supply chain by 2020.
‘We’ve made it a priority to hold our suppliers accountable to the same environmental standards we observe’
– LISA JACKSON
Not only this, but it estimates it will exceed this target by a further 1GW by 2020.
Powering the next generation
The company reported that the reduction of its carbon footprint for the third year running was largely due to its Supplier Clean Energy Programme. It said that manufacturing makes up 74pc of Apple’s carbon footprint, so the programme helps its suppliers increase energy efficiency and transition to renewable energy sources.
Apple said that last year it and its suppliers participated in clean energy generation that roughly equalled the electricity needed to power more than 600,000 homes in the US.
“Every time one of our suppliers joins us in our efforts to address climate change, we move closer to a better future for the next generation,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice-president of environment, policy and social initiatives.
“We’ve made it a priority to hold our suppliers accountable to the same environmental standards we observe and hope that our collaboration will show others what is possible. While we are proud of our announcement today, we won’t stop driving change within our industry to support the clean energy transition happening globally.”
The California tech giant said that more than 100 of its suppliers have registered to its Clean Energy Portal, which helps them identify renewable energy sources around the world.
Apple launched a fund last year to help finance renewable energy projects in China.
The company also announced progress to address environmental solutions by allocating $2.5bn in green bonds it previously announced, which it says is the largest of any US corporation. Through these bonds it has contributed to 40 environmental initiatives around the world. These include projects Apple has created to cover its entire electricity load, with 66pc of renewable energy that Apple uses coming from these endeavours.
