Apple reveals environmental progress and warns that climate change ‘is real’

Tech giant Apple has outlined a range of improvements to its sustainability credentials and warned that climate change “is real” and is “a problem”. The company also claimed that it wants to leave the world in a better state than how it found it.

Apple revealed that 94% of its corporate facilities and 100% of its data centres are now powered by clean energy sources.

It also said that it had cut the energy use of its products by 57% and had worked to remove toxins, such as PVC, brominated flame retardants and phthalates, from its supply chain. The firm seeks to collect all old Apple products for recycling.

The company’s vice-president of environmental initiatives Lisa Jackson said in a letter, “We feel the responsibility to consider everything we do in order to reduce our impact on the environment. We aim to create not just the best products in the world, but the best products for the world. We have a long way to go, but we are proud of our progress.

“We push ourselves every day to develop innovations that reduce our carbon footprint, use cleaner and safer materials, and show that what’s good for the planet can also be good for business.”

The announcement comes after the company’s CEO Tim Cook argued with a climate sceptic conservative thinktank, which accused him of putting environmental initiatives before financial returns for investors.

Cook said that if an investor’s only concern was to get a profitable return by investing in Apple, then their money was not welcome at the firm and they should sell their shares.

Apple has been recently praised by green campaigners, along with Google and Facebook, for its efforts to improve its sustainability credentials, such as by investing in renewable energy.

Photo: matt buchanan via flickr

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