Apple has announced its official support for California's SB 253, a bill that mandates companies earning over $1 billion annually to disclose detailed information relating to greenhouse gas emissions.
SB 253 would require all large U.S.-based corporations doing business in California that make over $1 billion annually to publicly disclose their full carbon footprint in an easily understandable and available way. Senator Scott Wiener introduced the bill.
Senator Wiener posted a letter from Apple that showed the company's support for the bill to X.
Huge new endorsement -- @Apple -- of our groundbreaking climate bill to require large corporations to disclose their carbon footprint (SB 253).
-- Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) September 7, 2023
Thank you, Apple, for making clear that this is doable & a critically important piece of climate action. pic.twitter.com/mntbWzXFDV
The letter was signed by Apple's director for state and local government affairs, D. Michael Foulkes.
"Throughout our environmental journey, we've emphasized the importance of measurement and reporting to help us understand our impact," the letter reads.
"We're strongly supportive of climate disclosures to improve transparency and drive progress in the fight against climate change, and we're grateful for your leadership to drive comprehensive emissions disclosure."
The letter continues to commend SB 253 in a few key areas, most notably in proposing that companies would need to measure and report Scope 3 emissions. Scope 3 emissions are not produced by the company itself but rather from assets owned or controlled by the company. This would require companies like Apple to report emissions from their supply chain partners.
In April, Apple shared its annual Environmental Progress Report, documenting its progress toward becoming carbon neutral by 2030.