“We left 110, but by a prompt reinforcement, we saw ourselves 213 after a year of effort”. This is not at all how Apple announced that it had almost doubled the number of its industrial partners who have committed to using renewable energy to manufacture its products. Undoubtedly a question of translation!
A nearly doubling
Nevertheless, about a year after revealing that 110 of its suppliers had switched to renewable energies, the American giant makes a point and now puts forward the figure of 213 partners. This annual update is a good way to follow a trend in Apple’s effort to achieve carbon neutrality for all of its activity by 2030.
It is also interesting to note that, according to the Cupertino company, always, these companies also continue their efforts to ensure that all their production is “green”, or in any case powered by renewable energies.
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Large and small suppliers
Apple highlights big names. Thus, in South Korea, LG Display and Samsung SDI have committed to using only “clean” energy for their production for Apple. Closer to us, Infineon, in Germany and Austria, uses solar farms for its energy supply, and brings to 25 the number of European companies to join this Apple program.
In this long list of newcomers, there are also smaller players, but just as essential to the manufacture of Apple products. This is the case of the French Eldim, which provides unique test equipment so that Apple can manufacture the Face ID modules integrated into the iPhone and iPad Pro. The French company, based near Caen, has a reduced carbon impact, especially related to the heating and air conditioning of clean rooms. It now plans to accelerate its investments in geothermal energy to move towards a zero carbon impact. A goal that could be reached by the end of 2022 for the activity related to Apple, and in the coming years for all of the company’s activity.
A long road…
In total, Apple’s suppliers are said to have more than doubled their use of “clean” energy over the past year, reaching 10 gigaWatts today. This switch would avoid the emission of 13.9 million tons of carbon from Apple’s activity, the equivalent of three million thermal cars withdrawn from circulation for one year. While it is difficult to verify the accuracy of these figures, the impact appears significant.
Of course, there is still a long way to go towards carbon neutrality – and this very objective raises many questions about how to achieve it. According to Apple’s 2021 annual report, Apple’s total carbon footprint was 22.6 million tonnes in 2020 – remember that the supply of Apple’s Apple Stores and offices around the world, as well that the trips of its employees have already been covered by renewable energy or compensated since 2020 at the latest.
For comparison, on average, a flight between Paris and New York produces around 504 kg of CO2 per passenger, according to civil aviation calculator. It is, however, not said if the passenger has an iPhone in his pocket…