Apple Now Runs On 100% Renewable Energy
The company has hit a milestone in clean energy production, and they've made progress in bringing their global suppliers with them.
Updated May 20 2019, 4:15 p.m. ET
Apple has been building and further developing their renewable projects around the world, which now include 25 operational facilities and 15 under construction. Climate Action Programme reports that the company now says their entire global operations is completely powered by renewable energy.
Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, says this was a huge goal for the company and they're grateful to have come so far.
“We’re committed to leaving the world better than we found it. After years of hard work we’re proud to have reached this significant milestone,” said Cook.
“We’re going to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible with the materials in our products, the way we recycle them, our facilities and our work with suppliers to establish new creative and forward-looking sources of renewable energy because we know the future depends on it."
But there's still more to do. The company relies on global suppliers to manufacture their products, who are not necessarily holding themselves to the same standards of production as properties owned by the company itself. Apple announced that nine more of those partners have committed to renewables, which brings the total to 23.
In total they have 200 suppliers, so there is still a fair expanse of industry associated with Apple that is likely not living up to the standards they've set for themselves. However, they have been making strides to cover their production in other ways, besides power generation.
Apple has built facilities to offset their emissions production. For example, 485 megawatts of wind and solar projects have been built in China by Apple, because they produce so much of their industry there. In both China and the U.S., they protect and manage sustainable forests to cover the paper packaging used in the assembly line, which is all either recycled or sustainably sourced.
A company of Apple's scale can make a huge dent in their carbon footprint by taking responsibility for what their production line does to the planet. Apple itself may have further to go, but they're aware that consumers care about the impact their purchasing choices has on the planet.
