In brief: A few weeks ago, Amazon introduced the Climate Pledge Fund, a $2 billion pool of cash to be invested in companies that bring the world closer toward full decarbonization. Now, Apple has decided that Amazon's time in the climate-related spotlight is over, revealing its own plans to become 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030.
Apple says it's already fully carbon neutral where its corporate operations are concerned, and has been for several months. However, moving forward, the tech behemoth will be aiming considerably higher by targeting "net zero climate impact" across its entire business.
That means Apple's entire supply chain -- everything from manufacturing to "product life cycle" -- will be carbon neutral. Apple's self-imposed deadline for this milestone is 2030, which is "20 years sooner than IPCC targets," according to the company.
Interestingly, carbon neutrality is not the only goal Apple hopes to hit by 2030 -- it also wants to reduce business-wide emissions by a whopping 75 percent. The remaining 25 percent of emissions will be addressed through the development of "innovative carbon removal solutions," whatever that might mean.
Apple will be adopting several strategies to reduce emissions and lower its carbon footprint, beginning with a transition toward "low carbon product design." This would involve an increase in the use of low carbon materials during the product manufacturing process, as well as further efforts to recycle and recover materials from devices at the end of their lifespan.
Apple also expects to dramatically increase energy efficiency for both its corporate facilities and its supply chain, though it did not lay out any concrete steps it will take to accomplish that task in this announcement.
We will do our best to keep you updated on Apple's progress over time, but we don't expect to see any significant climate-related achievements for at least another year or two, if not longer.
https://www.techspot.com/news/86081-apple-targets-net-zero-carbon-footprint-entire-supply.html
