Apple - Environment

Environmentally-friendly Mac products.

Protecting the environment is critical to the conservation of precious natural resources and the continued health of our planet. Apple recognises its responsibility as a global citizen and continually strives to reduce the environmental impact of the work we do and the products we create.

Apple and your carbon footprint

Apple is constantly working to minimise our impact on the environment. We learned that the best way to do this is to make our products more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

In October 2008, Apple began providing customers with estimates of the greenhouse gas emissions generated by each new product sold. For example, manufacturing and using a MacBook — our most popular notebook — results in 460 kg of CO₂e emissions over four years of use. According to the EPA, that's about the same amount the average car emits in a month.

Apple’s Environment team arrived at this estimate using a sophisticated life-cycle analysis of carbon emissions at each phase of production, starting with the mining of raw materials. We account for the manufacturing of the product as well as its packaging. Then we add the emissions related to transporting it to market, the power consumed during the product’s use and the energy required for eventual recycling. Apple also factors in the environmental impact of our offices and other business operations, which account for about 5% of total emissions.

The Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, a leader in the field of life cycle analysis, verified our methodology. We believe it has resulted in the broadest possible measure of the carbon footprint for each of our new products.

No other electronics company reports this information at the product level, so it’s impossible to compare the carbon footprint for each of our new products with those of our competitors. If other manufacturers were to provide the same data, we are confident that Apple's products would stack up very well. For starters, Apple offers superior power management right out of the box — every Mac we ship is ENERGY STAR 4.0 compliant or better, as a standard feature.

We have taken the innovative step of reporting emissions on a per-product basis so customers can make informed decisions about their own carbon footprints. Customers can also track our progress in reducing carbon emissions each time a new product is introduced.

This emissions data, along with detailed information on energy efficiency and materials composition, is provided for each new product in our Product Environmental Reports. You can find these reports, as well as information about the reduction programs we’ve put in place to minimise the carbon footprint of everyday operations, at Apple’s Environmental Performance page.

Latest in Apple and the Environment

Apple is on track to eliminate toxic chemicals from our products. In the 2008 Environmental Update, Steve Jobs provides an overview of Apple’s progress to eliminate mercury and arsenic from displays and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from internal components. Steve Jobs also talks about Apple’s policy on climate change, steps taken to improve product energy efficiency and overall recycling performance during 2007.

Recent achievements

A history of sound practice

At Apple, our commitment to the environment is second nature. Here are just a few of our recent achievements:

MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air have highly recyclable aluminium and glass enclosures, mercury-free displays and arsenic-free display glass. Printed circuit boards, electrical components, mechanical parts and internal cables are BFR-free and PVC-free.
The MacBook family is designed to be energy efficient. For example, a 13-inch MacBook consumes only 14W in idle with the display on, less than a quarter of the consumption of a typical household 60W lightbulb and far exceeds ENERGY STAR requirements.
Energy-efficient LED display technology now ships with MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and the LED Cinema Display. The MacBook LED backlit display uses 30% less power compared to conventional CCFL-backlit displays.
Between the first-generation and current-generation iMac, sleep-mode energy usage has decreased 93% thanks to improvements in CPU power management and increased hardware efficiency.
The packaging for the fourth-generation iPod nano is 32% lighter and uses 54% less volume than the packaging for the first-generation iPod nano.
Apple products are compliant with the European Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment, also known as the RoHS directive. Examples of materials restricted by RoHS include lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and PBB and PBDE flame retardants. As a result of our proactive approach to hazardous substances, Apple met many of the RoHS requirements long before the July 2006 deadline.

Year after year, Apple has set and met important goals to phase out environmentally harmful substances, create recycling programs worldwide and improve energy efficiency. Here are some of the most important milestones in our quest for environmental responsibility:

2008: MacBook Air is the first product to use mercury-free backlight technology with arsenic-free LCD display glass.
2008: iPhone 3G ships with PVC-free handset, headphones and USB cables; BFR-free printed circuit boards; and a mercury- and arsenic-free LCD display.
2007: First products shipped with bromine-free printed circuit board laminates.
2007: First MacBook Pro with mercury-free LED-backlit display.
2006: Apple was the first computer manufacturer to entirely replace CRT displays with material- and energy-efficient LCDs.
2005: Implementation of the Apple Supplier Code of Conduct, which governs environmental, health and safety and human rights issues in Apple’s supply chain.
2004: Investigation into BFR-free and PVC-free cable enclosures and printed circuit boards initiated.
2004: Phase out of substances restricted by the European Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive initiated.
2003: Implementation of supplier survey initiative on substance use.
2002: Product takeback solutions implemented in the U.S. and Japan.
2002: Roll out of Apple’s global Regulated Substances Specification.
2002: Signatory of European Union Code of Conduct on Power Supplies, created to encourage manufacturers to design power supplies that minimise energy consumption in off mode.
2002: Founding member of U.S. Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), which introduced energy efficiency requirements for the off mode of computer products.
2001: All Apple computers and displays meet applicable ENERGY STAR requirements. They continue to do so.
2001: Started voluntary phase out of tetrabisphenol A (TBBA) in all plastic enclosure parts >25 grams.
2000: All Apple manufacturing sites ISO 14001 certified worldwide, signifying that Apple has a structured environmental management system (EMS) in place to manage the environmental impact of our operations.
1999: Introduction of Apple Product Environmental Specifications (APES) files.
1999: Lead and cadmium in cables restricted.
1997: First Apple products tested for conformity to TCO (Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees) standards.
1996: First Apple manufacturing site (Sacramento, California) ISO 14001 certified.
1995: PVC in packaging materials phased out.
1994: First voluntary Apple product takeback program initiated in Germany (gradual expansion to other regions).
1994: Phase out of nickel-cadmium batteries.
1992: Founding member of the U.S. EPA ENERGY STAR program, developed to identify and promote energy-efficient computers and monitors.
1992: Phase out of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in Apple manufacturing, as stipulated in the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer.
1991: Phase out of lead in batteries in advance of the 1996 European battery directive.
1990: Apple’s environmental policy released and implemented.