Apple claims milestone: 100% green power
Apple chief executive Tim Cook on Tuesday morning (6am Melbourne time) announced the creator of the iMac and iPhone had reached its milestone of all of its global facilities using 100 percent renewable energy sources — ranging from retail stores to offices to data centres.
It’s a major example in the wider trend of companies getting substantial amounts of electricity directly from renewable projects, not just buying emissions credits or carbon offsets.
In addition to announcing that their direct operations are 100% renewable-powered, Apple also said that nine more of its suppliers are moving in that direction for their Apple-related work, bringing the total to 23.
Apple’s announcement comes just days after Google said it met 100% of its worldwide power needs with renewables for the first time last year.
For Apple, the supplier pledges are a key part. About 75 percent of the company’s total carbon footprint is from manufacturing, and the emissions from electricity to power those facilities is a major reason why.
The company said it has 25 renewable power projects worldwide and another 15 under construction. When completed, it will total over 1.4 gigawatts of renewable generation capacity across 11 countries, Apple said.
For a sense of scale, the U.S. added a total of 10.6 gigawatts of solar photovoltaic generating capacity last year, according to the industry’s main trade group.