| Cult of Mac

Apple saves 861,000 tons of precious metals by ditching iPhone chargers

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iPhone 12 box
Miss power chargers from your iPhone box? The environment doesn't.
Photo: Marco Verch/Flickr CC

Apple has saved 861,000 metric tons of copper, tin, and zinc ore by removing power adapters from iPhones, starting last year. That’s one of the tidbits from Apple’s factoid-studded Environmental Progress Report, released Friday.

It showcases how Apple is working toward its efforts of achieving net carbon neutrality across its whole supply chain by 2030. As Apple notes, that includes “How [an Apple product is] designed, how it’s made, how it’s shipped, how it’s used, [and] how it’s recycled.”

Apple’s $200 million fund will remove tons of CO2 from the atmosphere

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Apple environment
Apple's doing its bit to promote sustainability.
Photo: Apple

Apple on Thursday unveiled a $200 million fund to back responsible forestry efforts around the world. The Restore Fund, launched with Conservation International and Apple Card partner Goldman Sachs, aims to remove at least 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year.

That would be equivalent to removing more than 200,000 passenger vehicles from the road.

Apple’s clean-energy projects will cut carbon emissions equal to 200,000 cars

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Green Bonds
The name's Bond. Green Bonds.
Photo: Apple

Apple funded 17 Green Bond projects last year, which will ultimately help avoid an average of 921,000 metric tons of carbon emissions being pumped into the environment each year. That’s the equivalent of removing nearly 200,000 cars from the road, Apple says.

In an update on its planned $4.7 billion Green Bond spend, Apple notes that its new projects will generate a massive 1.2 gigawatts of renewable energy globally.

Apple (and its entire supply chain) will be 100% carbon neutral by 2030

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campus
Apple Park leads the way forward for sustainability. The rest of Apple's supply chain is following suit.
Photo: Apple

Apple will become carbon neutral across its entire business and manufacturing chain by 2030, the company said Tuesday.

Cupertino’s global corporate operations are already carbon neutral. Now, the company promises that in 10 years’ time, “every Apple device sold will have net zero climate impact.”

Tim Cook talks climate change at sustainability nonprofit event in New York

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Tim Cook talks climate change at sustainability nonprofit event in New York
Tim Cook has pushed sustainability throughout his time as Apple CEO.
Photo: Jim Gould/Twitter

Tim Cook talked Apple’s commitment to sustainability and renewable energy in a keynote speech at the Ceres 30th Anniversary Gala in New York City Monday night.

Ceres is a sustainability nonprofit that works with companies to tackle environmental issues. Cook described how Apple views battling climate change as an opportunity.

7 reasons people are keeping old iPhones much longer

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Old iPhones
The iPhone 5 might have been Apple’s coolest iPhone design.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Apple is set to make 5 billion dollars less this quarter than it previously expected. That’s a pretty big deal, and it’s down to two major things. One was an “economic weakness in some emerging markets.” The other was that Apple said it sold “fewer iPhone upgrades than we had anticipated.”

That second one is very interesting. Why aren’t people upgrading? There are two possibilities. One is that they’re switching to Android. The other is that people are holding onto their old iPhones for much longer. Why’s that?

Apple seeks to silence activist shareholders at its annual general meeting

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Apple could be a $2 trillion company by end of 2021
Apple doesn't want to talk sustainability or human rights at its 2018 AGM.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple may be very happy to talk environmental issues and human rights when it suits it to do so — but not at its shareholder meetings.

According to a new report, Apple is “pushing back” on four activist shareholder proposals to discuss these issues at its annual general meeting (AGM) early in 2018. The reason? Because Apple says they relate to “ordinary business” and are already areas that Apple is dealing with. In other words, don’t worry about it!

The great lengths Apple goes to for eco-friendly packaging

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EarPods
Apple's EarPods packaging is some of its most environmentally friendly.
Photo: Apple

Apple has taken big steps toward making its products more sustainable. As part of that mission, it just released a new “Paper and Packaging Strategy” white paper, which lays out the various measures the company is taking to lower the environmental impact its packaging has on the world.