Apple adds 175 suppliers to clean-energy pledge, in effort to be carbon-neutral by 2030

• Apple has more than doubled the number of suppliers to commit using clean energy over the last year

• The iPhone maker said it has reduced its carbon emissions by 40% over the past five years

Apple Inc on Wednesday said that 175 of its suppliers have committed to using clean energy in the supply chain process, which would help to bring more than 9 gigawatts of clean energy onto power grids.

The Cupertino giant said the commitment will reduce over 18 million metric tons of CO2e annually, the equivalent of taking over 4 million cars off the road each year.

Last year, the iPhone maker announced that 70 suppliers had pledged clean power usage and nearly 8 gigawatts of power to be added to grids worldwide.

The commitments are part of the company’s efforts to make its extensive global supply chain carbon-neutral by 2030.

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The suppliers will be using renewable energy sources such as solar or wind energy for the work they do for the tech giant to support Apple’s effort for its products to have what it calls a “net-zero” climate impact, which it announced last year.

Picking up momentum

Among the new round of commitments, almost 81 Asian firms have committed for the cause, including South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc, which supplies memory chips for Apple devices, will be one of the first Korean firms to join Apple’s program.

Also joining will be Franco-Italian chipmaker STMicroelectronics, a top supplier of sensors and other iPhones chips, along with 18 other European suppliers and 19 U.S. suppliers, including Solvay, are scaling their use of renewable energy across their Apple operations.

Aiming for a bigger change

“One of the things that comes along with this is building a core of businesses in different markets on different grids who are demanding clean energy. That’s helpful to policy makers,” Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, told Reuters.

Earlier in 2019, Apple pushed Foxconn parent Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, which assembles many of its products, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), which makes Apple’s processor chips, to sign clean energy pledges.

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Apple also said it will fund 10 smaller renewable energy projects aimed at helping renewable power to under-resourced communities.

The projects include work with communities in South Africa, the Philippines, Colombia and the Oceti Sakowin Power Authority formed by six Sioux tribes in the western United States.

Picture Credit: ABC News