UPDATE
06 April 2023
Apple and global suppliers expand renewable energy to 13.7 gigawatts
Over 250 global manufacturing partners are now on a path to decarbonise Apple production by 2030
Apple today announced its manufacturing partners now support over 13 gigawatts of renewable electricity around the world, a nearly 30 per cent increase in the last year. In total, more than 250 suppliers operating across 28 countries are committed to using renewable energy for all Apple production by 2030. This represents more than 85 per cent of the company’s direct manufacturing spend and more than 20 gigawatts in commitments.
Already carbon-neutral for its global corporate emissions, Apple uses innovative tools to support progress towards its ambitious 2030 goal to be carbon-neutral for every product. This includes US$4.7 billion in Green Bonds, which are helping finance the expansion of clean energy solutions and emissions reductions around the world. Apple today shared details of its Green Bond spend for 2022, which includes investments in large-scale solar, low-carbon design, energy efficiency and carbon removal.
“At Apple, we’re carbon-neutral for our own operations and innovating every day to go even further in the urgent work to address climate change,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “With partners around the world, we’re adding even more renewable energy to power our global supply chain and investing in next-generation green technologies. The scale of this challenge is immense — but so is our determination to meet it.”
Clean Energy Expansion Across Apple’s Supply Chain
More than 40 manufacturing partners joined Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy Program in the last year. Apple has called on its suppliers to decarbonise all Apple-related operations, including sourcing 100 per cent renewable electricity. To help them meet their commitments and go even further, Apple works closely with suppliers to identify and implement solutions for clean energy and carbon reductions — offering a suite of free learning resources and live trainings through its Clean Energy Academy.
“Our new supplier commitments demonstrate the rapid pace of progress we’re making towards our 2030 carbon neutrality goal,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives. “We are taking urgent action on a global scale to unlock a greener, more innovative and more resilient future.”
Through their participation in the Supplier Clean Energy Program, Apple’s suppliers are signalling demand for the expansion of renewable electricity capacity around the world. Since 2019, the operational renewable energy across Apple’s global supply chain has expanded five times over, now totalling 13.7 gigawatts. This equated to 17.4 million tonnes of avoided carbon emissions last year — the equivalent of removing nearly 3.8 million cars from the road.
Apple also supports about 1.5 gigawatts of renewable electricity around the world to power all corporate offices, data centres and retail stores, spanning 44 countries. The company has also invested directly in nearly 500 megawatts of solar and wind in China and Japan to address upstream supply chain emissions.
Apple Suppliers Advance Clean Energy Progress Around the World
Apple’s US-based manufacturing partners are making steady progress towards renewable energy, with 27 suppliers in the Supplier Clean Energy Program finding success with a variety of approaches. Some suppliers — including Bemis Associates — have achieved 100 per cent renewable electricity for all Apple-related production. Coherent Corp. is nearing that goal through the use of a green utility program, while others — including Qorvo — are using power purchase agreements (PPAs) for solar and wind projects across the country.
Nearly 70 suppliers in China are now committed to 100 per cent renewable electricity. Building on experiences with Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy Program, Avary Holding, which joined the program in 2020, is launching its own initiative to help drive scalable action by having its suppliers adopt renewable energy and decarbonise. Proceeds from the 2019 Green Bond contributed to Apple’s investment in the China Clean Energy Fund, a first-of-its-kind investment fund to connect suppliers in China with renewable energy sources. The innovative approach has so far enabled Apple and its suppliers to jointly invest in over 650 megawatts of renewable electricity.
Thirty European manufacturing partners are committed to clean energy, with six — including Viscom AG and Victrex — already achieving 100 per cent renewable electricity for their Apple loads. Bosch Sensortec GmbH, which recently joined Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy Program, and VARTA Microbattery GmbH are achieving 100 per cent renewable electricity through green utility power.
In Japan, 34 manufacturing partners have committed to procure 100 per cent renewable energy for their Apple production. Businesses like Taiyo Holdings Co., Ltd. are deploying onsite solar solutions, and other companies are using PPAs as availability increases. This includes Rohm Company Limited and Nissha Co., Ltd., which both joined the Supplier Clean Energy Program this year. Apple and its partners also continue to work together in support of wider deployment of affordable clean energy through collaborations such as the Japan Climate Leaders’ Partnership.
Similarly, in South Korea, Apple continues to call for an ambitious 2030 national renewable energy target, and engage in collaborative advocacy to improve transparency and expand cost-effective options, especially PPAs. In total, 18 businesses headquartered in South Korea are now part of the Supplier Clean Energy Program, with LG Innotek using onsite solar to help meet its commitments and SK hynix having achieved 100 per cent renewable energy for its Apple production in the country.
US$4.7 Billion in Green Bonds Accelerate Environmental Progress
To help accelerate clean energy progress and environmental innovations around the world, Apple has disbursed over US$3.2 billion of the company’s US$4.7 billion Green Bond commitment to date — including the total US$2.5 billion of its first two bonds. So far, the company has allocated US$700 million of the proceeds from the 2019 Green Bond to support 59 projects — including the development and distribution of clean energy training resources for suppliers and collaborative advocacy efforts in Japan, Vietnam and South Korea.
The projects supported by the 2019 Green Bond are expected to mitigate more than 13.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over their lifetime. Beyond building capacity for renewable energy across the supply chain, Apple’s Green Bond investments last year supported a wide range of environmental innovation across the business, including low-carbon design, energy efficiency and the expansion of renewable energy in grids around the world.
For example, the 2019 Green Bond helped fund the IP Radian Solar project that recently became operational in Brown County, Texas, with a project that now produces 320 megawatts of electricity. Apple invested in the project to help address the carbon impact of the energy Apple customers use to charge their devices. The bond also supported the company’s utility-scale battery located at the California Flats Solar Project in Monterey County, California, which became operational in 2022. The large battery stores up to 240 megawatt-hours of renewable electricity for later use, when the carbon intensity of the grid is highest. This helps to address the intermittency of renewable power across the state.
For more information on Apple’s Green Bond efforts, visit investor.apple.com/Apple_GreenBond_Report. This year’s annual impact report covers the cumulative allocation of Apple’s 2019 Green Bond proceeds to environmental projects that incurred spend between 29 September, 2019 and 24 September, 2022 — Apple’s 2022, 2021 and 2020 fiscal years. Sustainalytics provided a second-party opinion on the selected projects, and Ernst & Young LLP provided an attestation report on the spend.
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