where the company was able to cover its whole
electricity load to create a carbon-neutral
supply chain in some markets.
Financing clean energy projects across its
global business operations is something Apple
has promised for a number of years, with the
California-based tech giant saying that the
proceeds from green bond sales would finance
renewable energy, energy storage, and energy
efficiency projects across the company. Lisa
Jackson, Apple’s Vice President of Environment,
Policy and Social Initiatives, said that the Paris
Agreement was the initial prompt the company
needed to launch its green bonds, and in 2016
launched the first round of bonds generating
$1.5 billion. A year later, Apple issued a
second series for an additional $1 billion,
and now the combined $2.5 billion has been
invested into energy projects around the world
that will have a lasting impact on the company
and global citizens.
Of course, green bonds are only a small part of
Apple’s environmental policy, with the company
working in partnership with charities such as
The Conservation Fund to protect sustainable
forests in the United States. Apple claims the
partnership has produced more trees “than the
amount of virgin fiber used in Apple’s product
packaging,” whilst in China, Apple works with
WWF to improve the management of more
than 750,000 acres of forest.
As a result of its partnerships, Apple now uses
100% recycled or responsibly sourced paper
in packaging, and through initiatives, has also
helped suppliers save nearly 51.5 billion liters of
water, which it claims is enough to give every
person on the planet 30 glasses of water.