Apple's Tim Cook to join group of corporate leaders tackling Chinese environmental problems

"Apple is committed to running our global operations on 100 percent renewable energy and we're working hard to reduce emissions throughout our global supply chain," Cook said in prepared statement from the Paulson Institute. "We look forward to participating in the CEO Council's effort to advance China's green transformation and hope to do our part in helping China reach its climate goals."

The Council is manned by 17 corporate leaders from China and the U.S. Apart from Cook, some other prominent figures include Alibaba chairman Jack Ma Yun, Dow Chemical head Andrew Liveris, and Virginia Rometty, in charge of Apple partner IBM.

The group's mission statement calls for impact through "innovative corporate environmental practices, direct actions by companies and governments, and support for effective government policies." Its second annual meeting is due to be held Oct. 22 in Beijing, where the agenda will surround scaling "clean" technologies in face of things like the government's long-awaited targets for lower carbon emissions.

While Apple has touted that all of its datacenters and operations buildings run on environmentally-friendly power, its Chinese suppliers are still dependent on coal, which is not only non-renewable but contributes to global warming and local air pollution. Foxconn, for instance, is only just beginning serious efforts to adopt solar power.