In recent days, Apple announced that over 110 partner companies of its production chain around the world will use exclusively renewable energy for the production of the Cupertino house, generating an amount of clean energy of about 8 gigawatts. In other numbers, once the target is reached, the production of over 15 million tons of CO2 on an annual basis will be avoided: as if more than 3.4 million cars were removed from the roads every year.
It is fair to remember that a few months ago (it was July 2020) the Californian giant announced its plan to neutralize the carbon footprint at every level of the company, the supply chain and the life cycle of its products, by 2030. And from that ‘announcement, the number of suppliers in its supply chain switched to renewable energy has increased significantly. Helping suppliers around the world to achieve their renewable energy goals is one of the primary objectives of the Cupertino company.
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In Europe, thanks to the contract for the purchase of wind energy with DSM Engineering Materials, renewable energy has become part of the Dutch electricity grid, while the solar canopy built by STMicroelectronics in Morocco supports the production of clean energy on site. Companies like Solvay are extending the use of renewable energy to a growing number of facilities after joining Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy five years ago. In the United States, Alpha and Omega Semiconductor, Marian, The Chemours Company and Trinseo also joined the program. And since July 2020, another 15 suppliers have joined China. In many markets in which the company operates, suppliers do not have many options for accessing clean energy sources. To overcome this obstacle, Apple created the China Clean Energy Fund which allows the company and its partners to invest in renewable energy projects that can provide over a gigawatt of clean energy in China.
The Italian cases
Some Italian suppliers have also joined Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy program. This is the case, for example, of STMicroelectronics Italia. “Joining Apple’s program was – natural for us: we already had renewable energy projects in many of the countries where we are present. – tells Sole24ORE the CEO of the company, Orio Bellezza – In Catania, for example, we have 8 thousand square meters of photovoltaic panels installed in a parking lot since 2011. But it is true that Apple’s initiative has accelerated our programs. Since joining in 2019 we have started other projects that are already providing renewable energy or will soon. Already today in Italy and France 70% of the energy we use comes from renewable sources. At the end of 2020 we announced that we will become carbon neutral by 2027 and 100% of the energy we will use will come from renewable sources “.
“We believe that the value of Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy program lies in generating change in the market, and we too can play a role in this: we have initiated the involvement of our suppliers to whom we ask to respect our rules in terms of the environment, Health & Safety”.