Environment

In a new in-depth interview with The Independent, Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, offers new detail on the company’s renewable energy and other environmental efforts. Jackson explains how Apple works to consider the environmental impact that new innovations might have, across the entire scope of the company.

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Earlier this week, Apple won a United Nation award for its use of 100 percent renewable energy as well as other climate change efforts. In a new interview with Fast Company, Apple’s VP of environmental, social, and policy initiatives, Lisa Jackson, explained more about how Apple is working with its supply chain partners to help them transition to renewable energy.

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Apple has won one of 15 United Nations awards as part of the UN’s Global Climate Action program. The winners were described by the UN as ‘some of the world’s best and brightest solutions to climate change, led by communities, governments, businesses and organisations.’

“Announced amongst the backdrop of nations signalling their renewed determination to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, these awards shine a light on 15 incredible examples of scalable climate action around the world,” said Niclas Svenningsen, Manager of the UN Climate Change Global Climate Action Programme …

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The $300M China Clean Energy Fund – an environmental partnership between Apple and ten of its Chinese suppliers – has invested in three wind farms. The initiative is designed to help suppliers power their Apple production from 100% renewable energy.

Apple says that the fund is aiming to generate one gigawatt of renewable energy by 2022 and that these three farms will hit 10% of that goal…

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There’s a rather confusing story from Bloomberg today about Apple working with a soy sauce company in a clean energy project in Taiwan.

Apple Inc. is developing rooftop solar arrays with Taiwan’s Wan Ja Shan Brewery Co., best known for its popular soy sauce, as the Cupertino company boosts its use of renewable energy …

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Apple was the largest corporate user of solar power in the US last year, says a new industry report, underlining the Cupertino company’s environmental credentials.

U.S. businesses are increasingly turning to solar energy as a cost-effective means of powering their operations. As of 2018, Apple leads the nation with the most solar capacity installed, followed closely by Amazon, Target, Walmart and Switch …

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Mangroves – trees and shrubs that grow in coastal waters – absorb ten times as much carbon as land-based trees, which is why Apple announced last year that it was investing in a mangrove restoration project in Colombia. The company has marked Earth Day by reporting back on the environmental project.

Apple said in September that it would be supporting a project to protect and restore a 27,000-acre mangrove forest …

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Apple has announced that it is quadrupling its US iPhone recycling program by making it available through Best Buy stores throughout the country. The program will also be available through KPN stores in the Netherlands. Phones will be returned to Apple for recycling by its Daisy robots.

The company is celebrating the development on its homepage, with the top section devoted to its trade-in program and environmental credentials …

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Apple crossed the 100% renewable energy goal for its own operations (headquarters, data centers, retail stores) this time last year. However, the company is also convincing supply chain partners to go green too.

Today, Apple announced that it has doubled the number of suppliers who have agreed to run Apple manufacturing on 100% renewable energy too. The supply chain will add 5 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2020, exceeding Apple’s original 4 gigawatt goal.

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Apple first promised a mining-free future back in 2017, saying it planned to eventually create all its devices from 100% recycled materials.

The company said at the time that it didn’t yet know how to achieve this, and experts today point to some of the challenges the company will face along the way to this grand vision …

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A new report today from Motherboard takes a look at the quickly escalating problem of electronics waste. It has now become the fastest-growing stream of waste in the world, with discarded devices’ raw materials currently being valued at $62.5 billion. While Apple has admirable goals like finding a way to stop mining the earth, does it have a responsibility to take more action now?

Announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development has some ideas on accelerating progress.

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An Apple report on the business impact of climate change shows how extreme weather conditions could have benefits for the company as well as downsides.

The report was published by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a non-profit which aims to encourage companies to make the right choices about their environmental impact. Its reports collate company responses to questions about their policies, targets and performance – but the most interesting section is on the ‘risks and opportunities’ …

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Apple is highlighting some of the iPhone’s key differentiators with a new webpage and several fun animations posted on YouTube. The page is currently live on Apple’s German website, and will likely roll out to other countries soon.

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The Environmental Law Institute has today announced that Apple’s VP of environment, policy and social initiatives, Lisa Jackson, has won its distinguished 2018 Environmental Achievement Award.

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Aluminum is Apple’s go-to material for making many of its products sleek and durable, and now the company is taking serious steps to ensure using its favorite metal is also good for the planet.

Two major aluminum producers are announcing a “joint venture to commercialize patented technology that eliminates direct greenhouse gas emissions from the traditional smelting process,” and Apple played a key role in getting to this step.

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Apple prides itself on being environmentally focused and is continuously working to reduce its environmental footprint. According to Apple’s 2018 Environment Responsibility Report released today, the company is focusing on climate change, resources, and safer materials.

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In celebration of Earth Day this coming Sunday, Apple will be hosting two special Today at Apple sessions at their Union Square store in downtown San Francisco.

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Apple yesterday announced a really impressive achievement: its entire global operations are now 100% powered by renewable energy. That encompasses everything from retail stores and local offices through data centers to its Apple Park campus.

Unlike many companies, Apple doesn’t cheat by buying offsets.

“You could go out and buy carbon credits and offsets–nope,” says Jackson firmly. “You could go out and wait for other people to do projects and say ‘Can I have some of that please? How much will you charge me for some of your clean energy?’ No.”

Last time it updated us, the figure was 96%. When you don’t cheat, getting there with that last few percent is a far bigger achievement than it might sound, and I think Apple deserves every credit for this …

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