- Mar. 24th 2022 5:36 am PT
Apple has announced that it will be using carbon-free aluminum in future products, with the latest iPhone SE in line to take advantage of the new environmentally friendly manufacturing process.
But the company has been quietly using the ‘revolutionary advancement’ in aluminum production since 2019, in the 16-inch MacBook Pro …
Apple said that it helped fund the development of the manufacturing technology through a joint investment.
Apple is purchasing direct carbon-free aluminum following a major advancement in smelting technology to reduce emissions. The aluminum is the first to be manufactured at industrial scale outside of a laboratory without creating any direct carbon emissions during the smelting process. The company intends for the material to be introduced in the iPhone SE […]
Apple helped spur this revolutionary advancement 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-ever commercial batch of aluminum resulting from the joint venture, using it in the production of the 16-inch MacBook Pro.
The process creates oxygen instead of greenhouse gases, resulting in zero carbon emissions.
Apple said the investment was part of its Green Bonds program, first announced in 2017, which raises cash to fund environmentally friendly initiatives in everything from energy production to manufacturing processes.
“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 advancing the breakthrough 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 the earth’s finite resources.”
In total, Apple has issued $4.7 billion to accelerate progress toward the company’s goal to become carbon neutral across its supply chain by 2030. Its first two bonds in 2016 and 2017 are now fully allocated. The 2019 Green Bond is supporting 50 projects, including the low-carbon aluminum breakthrough.
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