Apple says 110 of its suppliers have switched to renewable energy as tech companies work towards climate targets

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Apple says that 110 of its suppliers are moving to use entirely renewable energy, as tech companies continue to work towards high-profile climate targets.

The company announced last year that it will be entirely carbon neutral for its supply chain and products by 2030. While its own operations already use renewable energy, the target aims to ensure that every devices such as iPhones or computers are renewable throughout their manufacturing.

Apple and other technology companies such as Microsoft have publicly made a number of such commitments as the environmental impact of their products continue to come under scrutiny.

The new announcements will bring online 8 gigawatts of clean energy, and Apple said the impact on emissions would be equivalent to taking 3.4 million cars off the road.

In a statement, Apple said that it had seen “steady progress towards its 2030 target” through initiatives that have included funding a huge battery project in California that will store energy from a solar farm that provides all of its renewable energy in the state.

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Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president for environment, policy, and social initiatives, told The Independent that the latest announcements showed that move was “on track” but noted that there was “still a lot of work ahead”.

Apple has “hundreds of suppliers” in total, all of which will have to move to fully renewable energy in order for Apple to meet the target by 2030. But the company is committed to encouraging that move and sharing information that has been gathered not only through bringing some suppliers on board already but also in Apple’s own successful journey to become carbon neutral.

“Not all of them are at the point where they've made the commitment, but many, many of them have engaged in our training or taking advantage of resources that we've made available,” said Ms Jackson. “And they've indicated a willingness to move forward in the process.”

She said those companies were largely dealing with practicalities, rather than having to be convinced about the value of sustainable energy, and that Apple is putting in place both funding and education to ensure that it is possible.

“In general, it's not convincing them,” she said. “It's making clear how they can do it and still run their business, and still keep their employees and do all the things that businesses are concerned about making a profit as well.

“We have the advantage of having long standing relationships with them. And we also have the advantage of having purchase power with them. And so between the two, I think that has led to some really lovely collaboration.”

In a statement, Ms Jackson noted that the changes had come after “a year like no other”.

“I think this year has been about learning new and different ways of doing the things we've done before,” she told The Independent. “And so the transition to clean energy is exactly that.

“One of the things that I think we're all doing is asking ourselves, what changes need to be made? And I think the world is people in the world are being clear that one of the changes is to take the climate into account, and take sustainability into account.”