Apple unveiled today significant progress to eliminate emissions across its value chain, announcing commitments from dozens of manufacturers in its supply chain to source clean energy for the production of Apple products, and investments in renewable energy to address the climate impact of the use of its products.

Value chain decarbonization is emerging as a major focus for sustainability initiatives at companies globally, as efforts to address the climate impact of business increasingly shift to reducing emissions outside of companies’ direct control, or Scope 3, such as those originating in the supply chain or from use of products and services, which often constitute the majority of company emissions.

More than 70% of Apple’s carbon footprint is created from the energy used in the manufacture of its products. In Apple’s recent Green Bond Impact Report, the company outlined investments it has made in programs aimed at enabling suppliers to reduce energy use and transition to renewable energy, including investments in training and resources to help guide suppliers in their transition to clean power, and policy advocacy efforts in locations including Japan, Vietnam, and South Korea to help build cost-effective renewable energy markets.  

Today, Apple revealed that over 200 of the company’s major manufacturing partners have made commitments to power all Apple production with renewable electricity across 25 countries. Additionally, the company stated that suppliers have more than doubled their use of clean power over the past year, and that these projects avoided nearly 14 million metric tons of carbon emissions in 2021.

Apple announced several dozen new clean energy commitments across its global supply chain, including North American companies DuPont and Micron, South Korean suppliers LG Display and Samsung, along with 11 new suppliers joining the program in Europe, 23 in China and 20 in Japan.

The company also highlighted its direct investments in renewables projects, including the 2,300-acre IP Radian Solar project in Brown County, Texas, aiming to address emissions from energy used to power Apple devices. According to Apple, electricity used by customers to power devices accounts for 22% of the company’s carbon footprint.

Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, said:

“We are proud that so many of our manufacturing partners have joined our urgent work to address the climate crisis by generating more renewable energy around the world. Clean energy is good for business and good for the planet. By sharing what we learned in our own transition to renewables, we are helping point the way to a greener future.”

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