Apple has announced that over 110 of its manufacturing partners around the world are moving to 100% renewable energy for their Apple production, with nearly 8 gigawatts of planned clean energy set to come online.
Once completed, these commitments will avoid over 15million metric tons of CO2e annually — the equivalent of taking more than 3.4 million cars off the road each year. Additionally, Apple is investing directly in renewable energy projects to cover a portion of upstream emissions, as well as a major energy storage project in California to pilot new solutions for renewable infrastructure.
“We are firmly committed to helping our suppliers become carbon neutral by 2030 and are thrilled that companies who’ve joined us span industries and countries around the world, including Germany, China, the US, India, and France,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president for Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, in a press release. “In a year like no other, Apple continued to work with a global network of colleagues, companies, and advocates to help make our environmental efforts and everything we do a force for good in people’s lives — and to work alongside the communities most impacted by climate change.”
Last July, the company unveiled its plan to become carbon neutral across its entire business, manufacturing supply chain, and product life cycle by 2030. Since that announcement, Apple has significantly increased the number of its suppliers that are transitioning to renewable energy. Apple is already carbon neutral today for its global corporate operations, and this new commitment means that by 2030, every Apple device sold will have net zero climate impact, according to Jackson.
Looking ahead, she said the company’s work with its suppliers will include sharing lessons learned from the next frontier of Apple’s renewable energy efforts: investing in storage solutions for renewable sites.
Apple is constructing one of the largest battery projects in the country, California Flats (pictured)— a grid-scale energy storage project capable of storing 240 megawatt-hours of energy, enough to power over 7,000 homes for one day. This project supports the company’s 130-megawatt solar farm that provides all of its renewable energy in California, by storing excess energy generated during the day and deploying it when it is most needed.
Overall, Apple has seen consistent reductions in its carbon footprint, even as net revenue increased. The company says its footprint has decreased by 40%, marking steady progress toward its 2030 target, and it has avoided more than 15 million metric tons of emissions through initiatives to use low-carbon materials, drive energy efficiency, and switch to clean energy.
