The United Nations has announced Apple is one of 15 winners of its 2019 UN Global Climate Action Award for the company’s uses of renewable energy source and donations to social intervention causes.
“Announced amongst the backdrop of nations signalling their renewed determination to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement,” said Niclas Svenningsen, Manager of the UN Climate Change Global Climate Action Programme in a statement, “these awards shine a light on 15 incredible examples of scalable climate action around the world.”
The UN says Apple was chosen for its its emissions reduction, saying that the company is “on a mission to make its products without taking from the Earth.”
“At Apple, we take our responsibility seriously to leave the world better than we found it,” said Lisa Jackson, vice president, environment, policy and social initiatives. “By running 100% of our operations on renewable energy and driving our entire global supply chain to do the same, we’ll bring more than 6 gigawatts of clean power online next year.
“From restoring mangrove forests in Colombia to launching a new Clean Energy Fund in China,” she continued, “we know that we must keep challenging ourselves to innovate and do more to take on the climate crisis globally.”
“Thank you to the United Nations for recognizing our commitment to clean energy and reducing the carbon footprint of our products,” concluded Jackson. “We promise to keep leading the charge for bold climate action.”
Apple’s emissions reduction efforts include:
- In the past three years, Apple has reduced its carbon footprint by 35%.
- Apple has transitioned to 100% renewable energy for the electricity used at its offices, retail stores and data centres in 43 countries across the world.
- Apple has decreased average product energy use by 70% across all of its major product lines.
- Apple has also partnered with Conservation International to protect and restore a 11,000 hectare mangrove forest in Colombia, which is expected to sequester 1 million tonnes of CO2 over the project’s lifetime.
Apple publishes an annual Environmental Responsibility Report reporting its environmental progress.
