Apple has announced that it’s now powering 96% of its operations with renewable energy in the company’s offices, retail stores, and product distribution centers. The company says it’s now 100% renewable in 24 countries, including all of its data centers.
Seven manufacturing suppliers have committed to powering their Apple production with 100% renewable energy by the end of next year, including three new manufacturers — Compal Electronics, Sunwoda Electronics and Biel Crystal Manufactory Ltd.
Theseupdates can be found in Apple’s 2017 Environmental Responsibility Report. The report also highlights the latest information about the tech giant’s global forestry partnerships. This year, through its partnership with WWF in China, Apple has transitioned approximately 320,000 acres of forest in China toward Forest Stewardship Council certification. This advancement means, in just two years, the company has now reached its goal of protecting and creating enough sustainably managed forests to cover all its packaging needs.
Apple says its forestry work is just the beginning of its efforts to conserve the world’s precious resources. The company also announced the ambitious goal of creating a closed loop supply chain, where products are built using only renewable resources or recycled material.
That means encouraging more customers to recycle their old devices through Apple Renew and piloting new technologies, like Liam. While this goal will take years of collaboration across multiple teams and partners, Apple has already begun using aluminum enclosures Liam recovered from iPhone 6 to create Mac mini computers used in its supplier facilities, and 100 percent recycled tin for the solder on the main logic board for iPhone 6s.
