Apple Shares 2021 Environmental Progress Report - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Shares 2021 Environmental Progress Report

by

Apple has today published its 2021 Environmental Progress Report, setting out the company's ongoing efforts to reduce its impact on the environment and combat climate change.

environmental progress report 2021
Apple's goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2030 is central to the report. For example, Apple highlights its increasing use of recycled materials in its products and packaging, emphasis on environmentally-conscious design, and use of renewable energy, to reduce carbon emissions.

Apple explained that increasing a device's power efficiency can significantly reduce the carbon emissions a device instigates over the course of its use. For example, it mentioned that the low power-per-watt requirements of the M1 chip have reduced the overall carbon footprint of the Mac mini by as much as 34 percent.

The company addressed some of the more controversial environmental decisions that it has taken over the past year, such as removing the power adapter and EarPods from the iPhone. Apple says that this will save 861,000 tons of copper, tin, and zinc ore from being unnecessarily mined from the earth. The move allowed for thinner iPhone boxes, which meant that 70 percent more iPhones can now fit in every shipping pallet, reducing overall the carbon footprint of device transportation.

The report also drew attention to Apple's recent announcement of its $200 million contribution to the "Restore Fund," which will make investments in forestry projects to remove carbon from the atmosphere.

See the full PDF version of Apple's 2021 Environmental Progress Report for more information.

Tags: Apple Environment, Environment

Top Rated Comments

cmaier Avatar
cmaier
65 months ago

My trouble with this is Apple is just moving the the issue to another vendors. Especially when it comes to power adapters. It seems like they want to make themselves look great caring less about other vendors. What they should do is produce power adapters that are better, and more environmentally conscious than everyone else. Apparently they just want to check the box saying they met the carbon emissions goal.
How are they moving the issue to other vendors on power adapters? Apple still sells power adapters. It’s just now you only buy one when you need it, and don’t incur the environmental costs of manufacture and shipping when you don’t.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmaier Avatar
cmaier
65 months ago

iCloud, by default, backs-up everything to iCloud. Photos and videos backed-up to iCloud.

I don't backup photos to iCloud because every time a picture is edited it goes through the upload process again and if I delete a picture after I use it the whole iCloud backup process was for nothing.

This goes-on for millions of Apple users every day. How much unnecessary iCloud traffic goes-on every day for Apple users? This is a stain on Apple's "Environmental Progress Report".
Most people never delete photos. Most people WANT their edited photos to be mirrored on their other devices or on iCloud. Most people would have no idea how to turn this feature on. This is a silly thing to complain about.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmaier Avatar
cmaier
65 months ago

Your reply is silly. I guess you are ignorant about the concept of server farms using a lot of energy and unnecessary Internet traffic goes against "environmentalism".
No, my reply isn’t silly. First, apple’s server farms are carbon neutral. Second, it’s only a waste of resources when the work isn’t necessary. Here, the work is necessary. It’s what people want and are paying for.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmaier Avatar
cmaier
65 months ago

Apple server farms may be "carbon neutral" because they get power from renewable suppliers but all the stuff between your device and their servers farms is likely not carbon neutral.

I noticed unneccessary Internet traffic with my devices. Every time I edited a picture it went through the iCloud backup process. I need the iCloud backup only at the end when I am finished with the picture. Simple things like this happen millions of times every day.
It was unnecessary to YOU. Now how much carbon will be emitted dealing with support phone calls, YouTube searches, and trips to the apple store to teach people how to enable iCloud syncing if Apple gives in to your idea and doesn’t turn it on by default?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
yellow8 Avatar
yellow8
65 months ago
Let's go world! Let's move to something awesome: not ruining the planet!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
E
ELman
65 months ago
My trouble with this is Apple is just moving the the issue to another vendors. Especially when it comes to power adapters. It seems like they want to make themselves look great caring less about other vendors. What they should do is produce power adapters that are better, and more environmentally conscious than everyone else. Apparently they just want to check the box saying they met the carbon emissions goal.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments