apple sustainability roadmap

8/6/2019 Apple Sustainability Roadmap

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H E R B I E G O E S B A N A N A S

A G R E E N E R A P P L E

Sustainability Roadmap June 6, 2011

Apple vastly underperforms Dell, HP,

and IBM on Sustainability

performance.

“Apple has yet to make

any serious

investments in clean

energy, or use its

brand to promote the

cause of

environmental

stewardship.”

renewableenergyworld.com,

January 2011

Apple is alreadya leader in

innovation andengineering, and

we are applyingthese sametalents to

become an

environmentalleader. Based on

our tangibleactions and

results over

time, hopefullyour customers,

employees,shareholders

and professionalcolleagues will

all feel proud of our ongoing

efforts tobecome a

greener Apple.

-Steve Jobs



CONTENT:

Manufacturing 3

Transportation 3

Product Use 3

Recycling 4

Facilit ies 4

Energy Efficiency 4

Goals to 2020 5

products.

The most important thing

Apple can do is ensure

future generations’ qualityof life while providing val-

ue for customers, share-

holders, and employees.

This is the path to that

goal.

Apple’s vision is to bring

the best user experience

to its customers through

its innovative hardware,

software, peripherals,

services and Internet offer-

ings. Apple also recogniz-

es the importance of being

a leader in environmental

sustainability in reaching

that vision.

Currently the electronics

industry contributes an

estimated 2% of green-

house gases around the

world. Of that 2%, it is

estimated that Apple isresponsible for 9.6 million

metric tons of green house

gas emissions in 2009.

The company recognizes

the importance of minimiz-

ing its contributions to this

growing problem.

By adding up the emis-

sions generated from the

manufacturing, transporta-

tion, product use, and

recycling of Apple products

as well as the emissions

generated by Apple facili-

ties the company was able

to pinpoint where green-

house gas emissions

come from. Apple found

that 97% of its carbon

footprint is directly related

to its products

(manufacturing, transpor-

tation, product use and

recycling) while a mere 3%

comes from facilities.

While most companies are

focusing on energy effi-

cient office space, Apple

has instead made it a

mission to reduce the

carbon footprint left by its

In order to become the

industry leader in the pro-

duction and distribution of

sustainable products ,Apple

must improve its product

offerings. The company

must design its products to

use less material, ship with

smaller packaging and be

free of toxic substances. In

addition the products must

be created to be energy

efficient in use as well recy-

clable whenever possible.

With the launch of every

new product, Apple will be

one step closer to reaching

its goals of reducing its

carbon footprint and be-

coming the industry leader

in environmental sustaina-

bility.

S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y V I S I O N & M I S S I O NCONTRIBUTING

FACTORS:

Manufacturing

Transportation

Product Use

Recycling

Facilities

Energy Efficiency

S T R A T E G Y

H E R B I E G O E S B A N A N A S


Sustainabil ity Roadmap June 6, 2011

Apple is on a mission to

minimize the environ-

mental impact of its

products.



Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)is a thermoplastic poly-mer. It is the third most

widely produced plasticbecause it is cheap,durable, and easy toassemble. AlthoughPVC has some positiveattributes, it has thepotential to emit toxins that other forms of plastic do not. In the electronics industry it ismainly used as an insu-lator and coating forelectrical cables.

The manufacturing of PVC uses the raw mate-

rial Vinyl Chloride (VC).

VC is an odorless gas

that has been linked to

neurological disorders

and cancer of the liver.

PVC manufacturing is a

major contributor to air

emissions of VC. In

addition to being highly

toxic, the VC emissions

can cause explosions in

manufacturing facilities

similar to the Formosa

Plastics plant.

PVC is not necessary in

electronics. A number

of companies are phas-

ing it out of their prod-

uct mix by using other

non toxic plastic com-

pounds. Apple has not

set a date to remove

PVC from its products.

Major new product lines

like the iPod nano and

MacBook still contain

PVC.

Brominated Flame Re- tardants (BFRs) arecommonly used in electronics to reduce theflammability of theproduct. The manufacturing of BFR syntheti-cally uses raw materials

that are known to be toxic and resistant todegrading.

There are several sub-stitutes for BFRs inelectronics that provide the same fire safetyusing organic com-pounds. It has alsobeen argued that prod-uct redesign can reduceor eliminate the needfor fire retardants. Sev-eral electronics compa-nies are already using these alternatives.

Apple has begun to

phase out BFRs and

PVCs but has not com-

pletely eliminated them

in their product lines.

This has put them be-

hind other competing

electronic companies in

the race to become the

leader in sustainability.

The impact of lower

energy requirementswill result in less green-

house emissions at

power plants.

In 2008, the MacBook

computer was the first

to become energy star

compliant. All computer

models were eventually

According to the IAWT

96% of the US popula- tion has an active cellphone. This means thatmuch of the energy us-age of Apple’s products

is in the hands of theend consumer.

Apple helps by ensuring

that product designs

are energy efficient.

rated energy star com-

pliant. However, follow-ing a recent change in

energy star standards,

Apple has not released

how their products are

scoring. Therefore,

Greenpeace has scored

Apple at only “partially

good” on energy effi-

ciency.

M A N U F A C T U R I N G — 4 5 % O F C A R B O N F O O T P R I N T

P R O D U C T U S E — 4 6 % O F C A R B O N F O O T P R I N T

However, the worldwidedistribution network hasa significant impact ongreenhouse emissions.Apple has reduced

packaging size by 53%over the past 5 years therefore decreasing carbon footprint.

T R A N S P O R T A T I O N — 5 % O F C A R B O N F O O T P R I N T

Very little information isavailable on Apple’s

supply chain because itis an important piece of competitive success.


OUT OF CONTROL Five workersdied, two were seriously in- jured, a nearby community wasevacuated, and fires burned fordays following a vinyl chlorideexplosion at the Formosa Plas-tics plant in Illiopolis, Ill., inApril.



Apple’s commitment to

the environment in-cludes finding the mostefficient ways to reuseor recycle electronicequipment, including computers and displaysfrom the manufacturer.

When Apple productsare recycled with Apple,some parts are reusedand other parts can bebroken down and repur-

posed. Apple canachieve up to 90% re-use rate (by weight) of

the original product.

Apple encourages recy-cling by supplying gift

cards to customers who

recycle their old com-

puters.

In addition if you want

to recycle your old non-

Apple computer Apple

will help you do that for

only $30 and also help

you recycle your Mac

battery for free.

Apple meets or exceeds

all hazardous waste

disposal requirements

and keeps waste in the

region where it was col-

lected and does not

dispose of hazardous

waste in solid-waste

landfills. Apple de-

mands strict require-

ments with its contrac-

tors and enforces all

safety and health laws

and does not use prison

labor.

chip (used in the i-pad, i

-touch and many oth-ers) is designed to deliv-

er power while maximiz-

ing battery life. Mac

operating systems are

designed to balance

tasks to keep a comput-

er from over working

and automatically enter

sleep mode. It even

The 3 keys to product

energy efficiency is effi-cient power supply,

components that re-

quire less power and

power management

software. Apple focus-

es on manipulating all

three keys to ensure

sustainable products.

For example, the A4

regulates power be-

tween key strokes tosave energy.

Every computer that

apple makes exceeds

Energy Star specifica-

tions and has earned an

EPEAT Gold rating.

R E C Y C L I N G — 1 % O F C A R B O N F O O T P R I N T

E N E R G Y E F F I C I E N C Y

Apple offers public

transportation incen-

tives and up to 800

employees use their

free biodiesel commut-

er coaches. This is esti-

mated to eliminate the

use of 1,559 cars and

10,292,000 kgs of

CO2e emissions per

year.

F A C I L I T I E S – 3 % O F C A R B O N F O O T P R I N T

The Austin, Sacramen- to, and Cork facilitiesare powered 100% byrenewable energy elimi-nating 19,200,000 kgsof CO2e emissions.This is achieved by high tech controls and moni- toring devices, high-

efficiency equipmentand continual innovation.





Where Should We Be In 2020?

Apple currently calculates this recycling rate by adding the total weight they recycle in a year and then dviding that number by the total weight of the products they sold seven years earlier. Apple currently has 70% recycling rate. This number will continue to grow if Apple continues to migrate its products to alumnum casings.

Currently 97% of Apple’s Carbon emissions come

from their products. This included manufacturing,customer use, & even the emissions used to recy-cle their products. Thus the focus has to continue to be on the manufacturing of products. Appleneeds reduce their 9.6 million tons of greenhousegas emissions by 50% by 2020

Apple has been ahead of the curve with removing toxic substances such as arsenic, brominatedflame retardants (BFRs), mercury, phthalates, andpolyvinyl chloride (PVC) from the environment. Tobe completely successful, Apple needs to stayahead of the curve and shout out successes from the rooftop.While Apple has completely removed BFR’s from

all its products there is still a need to completelyremove PVC from ALL products.

1 0 0 % R E C Y C L I N G R A T E B Y 2 0 2 0

P R O D U C T I O N — R E D U C E C A R B O N F O O T P R I N T

T O X I C E L E M E N T R E M O V A L

G O A L S F O R 2 0 2 0




Developed by:`

Once again Apple is the industry leader in this are-na, but that doesn’t mean things can’t improve.

Typical laptop batteries only have 200-300 batter-ies recharges. Apple’s Macbook Pro can be re-

charged 1000 times, which is head and shouldersabove the competition. Apple’s goal for 2020 is to

produce the first battery that can be recharged anunlimited amount of times. With Apple’s current

capabilities they are well on their way of achieving this goal.

While Apple clearly has “call outs” on the website

in regards to current sustainable efforts, there isstill opportunity to do a better job of marketing success to customers.There are two large demographic groups, the babyboomers & their children, the millennial genera- tion (18 – 29), that would love to hear the Appleproducts they are buying are also industry leaderswhen it comes to sustainability.Millennials are one of the most highly educated

demographics when it comes to understanding the

importance of ecological and environmental condi- tions, and they glean most of their informationfrom the web (79%). When it comes to the greenmovement, there are seemingly limitless opportu-

nities for brands to engage with consumers on aninteractive level in real time using digital media.In a survey, 64% of millennials 18 to 29 said theywould be willing to pay more for a product if theyknew some of their investment was going towardan environmental cause or an environmentallyconscious company.

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