Apple announces clean-energy investments in China

“We hope that many other suppliers, partners and other companies join us in this important effort”. The second program is an initiative to encourage its manufacturing partners to become more energy efficient and use clean energy. This is just the beginning of Apple’s plans, however, as the company intends to help build another 200 megawatts worth of solar capacity throughout the country.

Apple has been pushing forward renewable sources, and reportedly, the company is setting out with two new projects to improve the state of environment and the impact it has in the country. Apple says the completion of the projects makes the company carbon neutral in China, but that doesn’t factor in the energy used by its manufacturers and suppliers. It will also partner with them to install clean energy generators in the coming years, Cook said.

Amid at ending the ongoing criticism, which claims that now the Apple’s local partner in china are tagged as heavy polluters, the Apple has decide to green its Chinese supply chain by building 200 megawatts of solar energy projects in China.

Apple also will share best practices in procuring clean energy and building high-quality renewable energy projects, and provide hands-on assistance to a few suppliers in areas like energy efficiency audits, regulatory guidance and building strong partnerships to bring new clean energy projects to China.

As part of Wednesday’s announcement, major Apple supplier Foxconn said it will build 400 MW of solar energy projects by 2018, starting in Henan province.

“We are excited to embark on this initiative with Apple”. Apple was last month ranked in first place by the CITI Index, measuring brands’ environmental supply chain performance in China.

“When you look at all the air pollution in China, all the manufacturing that is done there has a lot to do with it, so this is a significant step in the right direction”, said Gary Cook, a senior analyst for Greenpeace, a group devoted to protecting the environment. Today the company is powering 100 percent of its operations in China and the USA, and more than 87 percent of its worldwide operations, with renewable energy.

Apple has 19 offices in China, as well as 24 stores that sell its products. The company had $203 billion in cash at the end of June.

Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984.

The service has grown by four million non-paying users since Eddy Cue, Apple’s SVP of internet software and services, said in August that the music streaming service had 11 million trial subscribers.

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