X

Apple's facilities now completely run on clean energy

That includes the company's retail stores, offices, data centers and co-located facilities in 43 countries.

Shara Tibken Former managing editor
Shara Tibken was a managing editor at CNET News, overseeing a team covering tech policy, EU tech, mobile and the digital divide. She previously covered mobile as a senior reporter at CNET and also wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. Shara is a native Midwesterner who still prefers "pop" over "soda."
Shara Tibken
2 min read
renewable-energy-apple-ap-solar-panels-040918

Apple's new spaceship campus has solar panels on the roof. 

Apple

All of Apple's facilities around the world now run on 100 percent clean energy. 

That includes the company's retail stores, offices, data centers and co-located facilities in 43 countries, Apple said in a press release Monday. The company also noted that nine more of its manufacturing partners have committed to powering all of their Apple production with renewable energy, bringing the number of supplier commitments to 23. 

"After years of hard work we're proud to have reached this significant milestone," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. "We're going to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible with the materials in our products, the way we recycle them, our facilities and our work with suppliers to establish new creative and forward-looking sources of renewable energy because we know the future depends on it."

Watch this: Apple's red iPhone 8 isn't quite like the last red one

Apple has been focused for years on making its products and its operations more environmentally friendly and has long said it aimed to run its operations entirely on renewable energy.

The company said in its 2017 environmental responsibility report, the most recent available before today, that as of 2016, it powered 96 percent of its operations around the world with 100 percent renewable energy, like solar, hydro and wind power. In 24 countries where it operates, Apple had reached the 100 percent renewable level, and nearly 100 percent of the paper used in product packaging was from recycled or "responsibly managed sources." 

As of 2014, all of Apple's data centers have been powered by clean energy, and the company said that since 2011, its renewable energy projects have reduced greenhouse gas emissions from its facilities worldwide by 54 percent. The company's new headquarters, Apple Park in Cupertino, California, runs on renewable energy, including a 17-megawatt rooftop solar panel project and four megawatts of biogas fuel cells. 

Along with its new campus, Apple has 25 renewable energy projects in operation around the world that could generate 626 megawatts of capacity. It said 286 megawatts of solar PV generation came online last year, and it has 15 more projects in construction. Once those are finished, Apple will have 1.4 gigawatts of clean renewable energy generation across 11 countries.

As for its suppliers, Apple said their use of clean energy helped prevent 1.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases from being emitted in 2017 -- the equivalent of taking more than 300,000 cars off the road. And over 85 suppliers have signed up for Apple's Clean Energy Portal that helps suppliers find renewable energy in different regions around the world.

Tech Enabled: CNET chronicles tech's role in providing new kinds of accessibility.

Rebooting the Reef: CNET dives deep into how tech can help save Australia's Great Barrier Reef.