Apple puts pressure on manufacturing partners to decarbonise their operations through yearly audits

Apple’s manufacturing partners will be made to participate in yearly audits to keep tabs on how their efforts to decarbonise their production lines are progressing, as part of the consumer electronics giant’s push to become carbon-neutral across its entire global supply chain.

The process will see the firm’s manufacturing partners put under greater pressure to curb the Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions generated by their Apple-related workloads, with the firm stating that it wants to work with organisations that are “working with urgency and making measurable progress towards decarbonisation”.

Its partners are also also being encouraged to power their operations using renewable energy, with Apple stating that more than 200 suppliers, which represent more than 70% of the company’s direct manufacturing spend, have already committed to using green power such as wind or solar when producing Apple products.

Apple claims its global corporate operations have been running on a carbon-neutral basis since 2020 and it has set its sights on its global supply chain partners doing the same.

“Fighting climate change remains one of Apple’s most urgent priorities, and moments like this put action to those words,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook.

“We’re looking forward to continued partnership with our suppliers to make Apple’s supply chain carbon-neutral by 2030. Climate action at Apple doesn’t stop at our doors, and in this work, we’re determined to be a ripple in the pond that creates a bigger change.”

While the yearly audits are intended to keep suppliers focused on the job at hand, Apple said it will also be laying on free e-learning resources and live training sessions through its Clean Energy Programme and will work with its manufacturing partners to find ways to make working practices more sustainable.

“More than 150 supplier representatives have participated in live trainings this year alone,” the company said, in a statement. “Apple plans to donate these resources to create a first-of-its-kind public training platform that is free for businesses across many different industries, ensuring that companies of all sizes – in Apple’s supply chain and beyond – will have access to the resources and advocacy networks needed to speed their transition to 100% clean energy and carbon neutrality.”

Outside of its supply chain, the company has also committed to funding the construction of several large-scale solar and wind projects in Europe, ranging from 30MW to 300MW in size. This is so it can deliver on its goal of generating enough renewable energy to power all Apple devices across the continent, as well as all the corporate offices, retail stores and datacentres it has in operation on the continent.