March 24, 2022
Update
Apple’s $4.7 billion bond supports innovative green technology
The company plans to use the world’s first commercial-grade low-carbon aluminum from ELYSIS in iPhone SE
The company announced today that Apple’s $4.7 billion investment in green bonds has helped kick-start the development of new low-carbon manufacturing and recycling technologies. Apple has issued three green bonds since 2016, with projects that demonstrate how investments can reduce global emissions and provide clean energy to communities around the world.
As part of this business, Apple is purchasing carbon-neutral aluminum immediately following significant advances in smelting technology to reduce emissions. Aluminum is the first to be manufactured on an industrial scale outside a lab without direct carbon emissions during the smelting process. The company intends to present the material in the iPhone SE.
“Apple is committed to leaving the planet better than we found it, and our green bonds are a key tool to drive our environmental efforts forward,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives. “Our investments are developing the advanced technologies needed to reduce the carbon footprint of the materials we use, even as we move to using only recyclable and renewable materials across our products to conserve Earth’s finite resources.”
In total, Apple issued $4.7 billion to accelerate progress toward the company’s goal of becoming carbon-neutral across its supply chain by 2030. Its first bonds have now been committed in all of 2016 and 2017. The 2019 Green Bond supports 50 projects, including the low-carbon aluminum breakthrough. These 50 projects will mitigate or offset 2,883,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, install nearly 700 megawatts of renewable energy capacity around the world, and promote new research and development for recycling.
Innovation in green aluminum smelting
ELYSIS, the company behind the world’s first carbon-free direct smelting of aluminum, has announced that it has produced the first commercial-purity primary aluminum on an industrial scale for use in Apple products. The advanced technology produces oxygen instead of greenhouse gases, and the achievement marks a milestone in the production of aluminum, one of the world’s most widely used metals. Apple will purchase this first batch of commercial-purity low-carbon aluminum from ELYSIS for intended use in the iPhone SE. This aluminum was produced by ELYSIS at the Industrial Research and Development Center in Quebec using hydroelectric power.
Apple helped catalyze this revolutionary advance in aluminum production through an investment partnership with Alcoa, Rio Tinto, and the governments of Canada and Quebec that began in 2018. The following year, Apple purchased the first commercial batch of aluminum from the joint venture, which was used to produce a device MacBook Pro 16 inch.
This is the first time that aluminum has been produced in this commercial purity, without any greenhouse gas emissions and on an industrial scale. The sale to Apple confirms market interest in aluminum produced using ELYSIS’ advanced carbon-free smelting technology. Today’s announcement announced that ELYSIS, a joint venture between Alcoa and Rio Tinto, was able to turn the idea into reality,” said Vincent Christ, CEO of ELYSIS. “We are excited to be working alongside Apple on this progress, which has the potential to making permanent changes in how aluminum is produced.”
Today’s milestone builds on the significant progress Apple has made in reducing the carbon footprint of aluminum and other metals in its products. By switching to recycled aluminum and aluminum smelted using hydropower instead of fossil fuels, the company’s aluminum-related carbon emissions have fallen nearly 70 percent since 2015. Every model in the iPad lineup, including the new iPad Air, along with the latest MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, Mac mini, and Apple Watch are made from 100% recycled aluminum housing.
Commitment to clean energy
Apple continues to use its green bonds – which are among the largest in the private sector – to develop new sources of renewable energy. More than $500 million in company revenue for the 2019 Green Bond is allocated to clean energy projects. This includes the world’s largest onshore wind turbine, which supplies the company’s data center in Vyborg, Denmark, with all the excess power that goes back to the Danish grid.
Over the next year, Apple will expand Viborg data center operations and create new infrastructure to capture excess thermal energy for the city’s long-term benefit. As with its data centers, all Apple offices and retail stores in 44 countries have supplied 100% clean energy since 2018, including through Green Bond revenue.
In 2021, the 2019 Apple Green Bond helped support its Supplier Clean Energy Program, including provisions for training and resources to help guide suppliers in their transition to clean energy, and policy advocacy efforts in Japan, Vietnam, and South Korea to help build cost-effective markets Renewable energy. More than 175 manufacturing partners in 24 countries have now committed to using 100 percent renewable energy for Apple production, an important milestone toward ensuring every Apple product has a zero climate impact.
For more information on Apple’s Green Bond efforts, visit Investor.apple.com/Apple_GreenBond_Report.pdf. This year’s Annual Impact Report covers the cumulative allocation of 2019 Apple Green Bond proceeds to environmental projects spent between September 29, 2019 and September 25, 2021—the Apple fiscal cents 2020 and 2021. Ernst & Young LLP’ Expenditure Approval Report.
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