Affiliate Disclosure
If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy.

Apple manufacturing now uses 13.7 gigawatts of renewable energy, will hit carbon neutral by 2030

Holmen Iggesund's Blbergsliden wind farm features 26 turbines and is located just outside of Skellefte, Sweden. (Source: Apple)

Last updated

In what Tim Cook calls an "immense" challenge, Apple and its global partners have increased the use of renewable energy by almost 30%, and continues to aim for carbon neutrality by 2030.

Following Cook's October 2022 call for suppliers to accelerate the decarbonization of Apple product manufacturer, Apple has announced that over 250 firms are working to achieve the 2040 goal.

"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," Cook said in a statement. "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," he continued, "but so is our determination to meet it."

Apple says that 13.7 gigawatts of renewable energy is being used by its suppliers worldwide, which is an increase of nearly 30% in the last year. Over 250 suppliers in 28 countries, representing over 85% of Apple's manufacturing, are reportedly committed to using renewable energy for all Apple production by 2030.

The company has also announced its Green Bond spend for 2022. In March 2022, Apple said it would be using the world's first low-carbon aluminium in the iPhone SE. Now Apple says that it is investing in large-scale solar, low-carbon design, energy efficiency, and carbon removal.

Over 40 manufacturing partners joined Apple's Supplier Clean Energy Program in the last year. Apple works with them to identify carbon reductions, and also provides them with free learning resources and live training in the Clean Energy Academy.

"Our new supplier commitments demonstrate the rapid pace of progress we're making toward 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."

(Source: Apple) (Source: Apple)

In the US, there are 27 firms in Apple's program, including some such as Bemis Associates, which have achieved 100% renewable energy for all Apple-related production. Coherent Corp is nearing that total with a green utility program, and others are making power purchase agreements (PPAs) for solar and wind projects across the country.

Apple says that it has disbursed over $3.2 billion of its $4.7 billion Green Bond commitment to date. Some 59 projects supported by the Green Bond in 2019 are expected to "mitigate more than 13.5 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide" over their lifetime.

Those projects include helping to fund the IP Radian Solar project, which recently became operational in Brown County, Texas.



29 Comments

22july2013 12 Years · 3753 comments

13.21 Gigawatts? 13.21 Gigawatts!! Great Scott! Marty, do you know what this means?

4 Likes · 0 Dislikes
DAalseth 7 Years · 3123 comments

This is very good news. Sounds like they are doing it the right way too, with renewable energy sources, not by buying offsets. 

2 Likes · 0 Dislikes
TenApplesUpOnTop 4 Years · 54 comments

13.21 Gigawatts? 13.21 Gigawatts!! Great Scott! Marty, do you know what this means?

Let us know when it reaches 1.21 Jigawatts.

3 Likes · 0 Dislikes
2morrow 5 Years · 23 comments

I have a question. 

So when Apple or it’s suppliers purchase x gigawatts of renewable energy in China or some other country how do they know that the power is for them and not another big company that is asking for renewable energy. Can they not just apply the same power from renewable to as many companies as they want and not really have all of that renewable power allocated?

2 Likes · 0 Dislikes
tht 24 Years · 5724 comments

2morrow said:
I have a question. 
So when Apple or it’s suppliers purchase x gigawatts of renewable energy in China or some other country how do they know that the power is for them and not another big company that is asking for renewable energy. Can they not just apply the same power from renewable to as many companies as they want and not really have all of that renewable power allocated?

Grid power and energy is fed by multiple sources of electricity. Once those individual power sources, like individual potatoes, energize the grid, it is basically mash potatoes to end customers. At the point of usage, this energy cannot be isolated to a specific type of source.

What Apple does, and basically all renewable energy contracts from power providers, is ensure that for whatever energy they or their supplier uses, they put in an equivalent amount into the grid from a renewable power source. The money that pays for renewable energy from Apple and its suppliers goes to renewable power sources. The grid doesn't have infinite capacity, and the grid operator has to maintain a balance plus reserve. If a power generator isn't paid for or is too expensive, the grid will ask them to decrease their output or shutdown. They will shut down themselves if they aren't been paid.

Since Apple is guaranteeing a renewable energy source, it typically means the most expensive power generator will be reduced or shutdown. That's coal. Nuclear is actually the most expensive, but the fleet is typically kept alive for strategic reasons. Once grid batteries, fed by renewables, get to significant capacities, natural gas peaker plants will be next. And in the not so distant future, gas plants will be shutdown too.

5 Likes · 0 Dislikes