SAN FRANCISCO — Apple CEO Tim Cook is urging competitors to copy Apple in the fight against climate change.
Speaking today at the BoxWorks 2015 conference at Moscone Center here, Cook said Apple’s rivals should copy its efforts to run their operations entirely on renewable energy.
“We are very focused on the environment,” he said. “Climate change is real, and we should stop denying it.”
Apple is famous, of course, for taking a dim view of competitors copying its products. Apple is still involved in a long, drawn-out fight with Samsung over copying the iPhone, and in the past has battled companies like Microsoft over patents.
But Cook said he’d love to see industry copy Apple’s initiatives to combat climate change.
He said Apple realized a few years ago that the giant company — which is the biggest in the world — could run its entire operation on 100 percent renewable energy.
Apple’s U.S. operations already run totally on renewable energy, he said. The company’s goal is to also run its overseas supply chain on renewable sources, he added.
“Anybody could do this,” he said in reference to other businesses. “This is one area where we want to be copied.”
Cook said in the absence of action from the world’s governments, climate change is an area where enterprise could take the lead.
“This is one of the areas where we could step up and lead,” he said, “especially when there’s a void from government.”
Apple’s green push
Having previously been condemned by Greenpeace for its lack of corporate responsibility, Apple has made a big push for renewable energy energy under Cook. In 2013, the company announced that its data centers run on renewable energy, while more recently this intention has been expanded to cover hundreds of Apple Stores and, eventually, the entire company — including that overseas supply chain.
“Apple’s goal is to achieve a net-zero impact on the world’s supply of sustainable virgin fibre and power all its operations worldwide on 100 percent renewable energy,” Cupertino said in a recent statement outlining Apple’s green China initiative. Cook noted that this will take years, but is “a responsibility we accept.”
In a rare angry outburst during his tenure as CEO, Cook in the past advised investors who disagree with his green stance to “get out” of Apple stock.
Most of Apple’s factories are in China, which is infamous for its reliance on coal power. The Chinese, however, recently announced a breakthrough initiative to dramatically cut emissions.
At the Box conference, Cook also talked about Apple’s moves in the enterprise. He noted that Apple has traditionally been a consumer-focused company. But now that everyone uses their consumer devices at work — especially the iPhone and iPad — Apple is also becoming an enterprise company.
Luke Dormehl contributed to this report.
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander is an expert on:
Apple and Apple history
Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Tim Cook and Apple leadership
Apple community
iPhone and iOS
iPad and iPadOS
Mac and macOS
Apple Watch and watchOS
Apple TV and tvOS
AirPods
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
