Apple Green Efforts Bear Fruit: Surpasses 60% Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction
Ahead of Earth Day, tech giant Apple today announced significant strides in its environmental initiatives, revealing that it has surpassed a 60% reduction in its global greenhouse gas emissions compared to its 2015 baseline. This achievement marks a major milestone in the company’s ambitious “Apple 2030” goal to achieve carbon neutrality across its entire footprint within the next five years.
The company outlined its progress in its annual Environmental Progress Report, also highlighting significant advancements in the use of recycled materials. Notably, Apple now utilises 99% recycled rare earth elements in all magnets and 99% recycled cobalt in all Apple-designed batteries.
“Incredibly Proud” of Progress Towards Apple 2030
Apple has a strategy to reach its 2030 goal. Specifically, this strategy prioritises a 75% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2015 levels. Furthermore, the remaining emissions will be offset. This will be done through high-quality carbon credits. Last year, the company made significant efforts. For instance, these efforts include transitioning its supply chain to renewable electricity. Additionally, they increased the use of recycled materials in product design. Consequently, these actions are estimated to have avoided 41 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Key Environmental Milestones Achieved
- Accelerating Clean Energy in Supply Chain: Apple’s global supply chain now boasts 17.8 gigawatts of renewable electricity online. In 2024, renewable energy procured by suppliers avoided 21.8 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, a 17% increase year-over-year. Suppliers also avoided nearly 2 million metric tons of emissions through energy efficiency improvements.
- Driving Cleaner Semiconductor Production: The company is actively working with its supply chain. Specifically, their goal is to reduce direct emissions from industrial processes. This is particularly focused on semiconductor and display manufacturing. To illustrate, twenty-six direct semiconductor suppliers have made a commitment. They aim to abate at least 90% of fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-GHGs) by 2030 for Apple-related production. Moreover, 100% of direct display suppliers have made the same pledge. As a result, in 2024, these suppliers successfully abated 8.4 million metric tons of F-GHGs.
- Expanding the Use of Recycled and Renewable Materials: The company has made significant strides in its sustainability efforts. Specifically, their goal is to use 100% recycled rare earth elements in all magnets. Furthermore, they also aim for 100% recycled cobalt in all Apple-designed batteries by 2025. Impressively, they have currently achieved 99% for both of these materials.
- Eliminating Millions of Metric Tons of Waste: In 2024, suppliers participated in Apple’s Zero Waste program. As a result, these suppliers diverted approximately 600,000 metric tons of waste from landfills. Consequently, this brought the total waste diverted to 3.6 million metric tons since 2015. In fact, this amount is equivalent to eliminating 4.5 million square meters of landfill space.
- Innovating to Reduce Product Emissions: The company continues to innovate to lower the carbon footprint of its products. The new MacBook Air, for example, contains over 55% recycled content, the most in any Apple product. Last year saw the introduction of the first carbon neutral Mac mini, and customers can now choose carbon neutral options for all Apple Watch models.
- Saving Billions of Gallons of Water Each Year: The company and its suppliers have saved over 90 billion gallons of fresh water since the launch of the Supplier Clean Water Program in 2013. In 2024 alone, participating suppliers saved 14 billion gallons through water reuse and efficiency initiatives. The company is also working to replenish 100% of freshwater withdrawals in high-stress locations by 2030, with long-term partnerships already addressing over 40% of that target.
Celebrating Earth Day Globally and Locally
The company is engaging its customers and users in Earth Day through various initiatives worldwide, and is also hosting a special event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia:
Global Earth Day Initiatives:
- Apple Trade In and Recycling Programs: Customers can recycle their old Apple devices at Apple Store locations for credit or responsible disposal.
- Apple Watch Earth Day Award: On April 22, Apple Watch users can earn a limited-edition award by completing any workout of 30 minutes or more.
- Apple Fitness+ Content: New Earth Day-themed Time to Walk and Time to Run episodes, as well as an ocean breathing meditation, will be available.
- Apple TV App and Apple TV+: Curated collections of movies, shows, and documentaries celebrating Earth will be featured.
- Tips App: A new Earth Day collection will offer users tips on planet-friendly actions they can take with their iPhones.
“Celebrating Earth Together” at Apple The Exchange TRX, Kuala Lumpur:
Apple will be hosting a special event, “Celebrating Earth Together,” on 26th April at Apple The Exchange TRX in Kuala Lumpur. Attendees can discover how Apple brings its upcycled installations to life using Freeform on iPad and even learn to design their own.
Workshop: Reimagine Everyday Waste with Co2_karbondioksida
- Date: Saturday, 26 April
- Time: 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
- Join Malaysian environmental artist duo Co2 (Celine Tan and Oscar Lee) to explore how they transform everyday plastic waste into thought-provoking installations. They will discuss the role of art in activism and demonstrate how they visualise their pieces using iPad, Apple Pencil, and Freeform. Participants will gain firsthand insight into their process and brainstorm their own ideas to inspire environmental action.
- Sign up here (Limited spots available)
For more detailed information on Apple’s environmental efforts, please visit the official website.
