Apple Inc. made a commitment by announcing plans to be completely carbon neutral by 2030. The pledge covers its entire global business including its supply chain, manufacturing process, and the life of its products. So, an iPhone purchased in 2030 will have a net-zero climate impact, including the energy required for the device. Apple’s plan is to achieve this by minimizing carbon in its all products, by using efficient and renewable energy sources or by using different materials.
Apple's move comes after Amazon's plans to go carbon neutral in the coming years. Apple is already starting to change the materials it works with. The company claims that it's begun to use a new type of aluminium to make its 16-inch MacBook Pro, and no carbon is used when the aluminium is smelted for using it in the devices. Apple has also reduced emissions from gases used in manufacturing its electronics. The company has a new robot that's designed to disassemble an iPhone component that contains valuable rare earth elements, which can be reused in future devices. According to Apple, all iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches released in the last year now have recycled rare earth elements.
Apple has commitments from its 70 suppliers to use 100% renewable energy for Apple production. Lisa Jackson, Apple Vice President of Environment said "We wanted to step up and show we should all move even faster if we can because the situation is urgent and continuing to be more urgent.” Apple hopes the announcement will rally more suppliers to work with it to limit their carbon footprint. Apple is also working with the US-China Green Fund to invest $100 million in energy efficiency projects for its suppliers.
Nives Dolsak, a University of Washington professor who studies climate change, said the trend of businesses making carbon neutrality pledges is a good initiative. But she has also been critical of Amazon's pledge and raises concerns about what emissions the company actually counts. Some companies can sidestep climate impacts by outsourcing dirty work to other companies. A company might buy steel rather than manufacturing it to show less carbon emission on the paper.
As of now, it’s not possible to reduce the carbon emission to zero for the companies. Hence organisations like Apple are also working with the environmental non-profit Conservation International on projects, such as restoring a mangrove ecosystem in Columbia and tree plantation projects in Africa. These efforts and other carbon capture projects can offset the carbon footprint of using Apple products. But companies must share carbon emission data so that scientists and NGOs can review it and comment on the reliability of the company’s claims.