Covering fiscal year 2021
Environmental 
Progress  
Report

Connecting 
communities
around the world
Cover photo: We aim to reduce our emissions in ways that consider the  
low-income and historically marginalized communities that too often bear the  
brunt of the effects of climate change. We are bringing renewable electricity to 
3500 households in South Africa that previously lacked access to electricity. 
Introduction 
Letter from Lisa Jackson
3
Our environmental strategy
5
Goals
6
Report highlights
7
	Climate Change 
Goals and progress 
10
Our approach
11
Low-carbon design
16
Energy efficiency
19
Renewable electricity
21
	Direct emissions abatement
28
Carbon removal
29
	Resources 
Goals and progress 
33 
Our approach
34 
	Materials
35
	Water
52
Zero waste
57
	Smarter Chemistry 
Goals and progress 
63 
Our approach
64
Mapping and engagement
65
Assessment and management
69
Innovation
72
Engagement
Our approach
76
Appendix
A: Environmental data
84
B: Corporate facilities energy supplement
89
C: Assurance and review statements
100
D: Environment, Health, and Safety Policy
121 
E: ISO 14001 certification
122
Report notes	

124
End notes 
126
Contents
2022 Environmental Progress Report  2
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Lisa Jackson 
Vice President, 
Environment, Policy  
& Social Initiatives
In a year where the technology we make touched more lives than 
ever, teams across Apple never stopped innovating to protect the 
planet. Whether it’s using more recycled materials in our products, 
or transitioning our supply chain to 100 percent clean energy, there 
is no part of Apple this work does not reach.
This year’s Environmental Progress Report shows the breadth of the environmental 
solutions we’re advancing, and the scale of collaboration that helped make them 
possible. The details here matter, because they add up to meaningful, substantive 
progress in our work for the planet. We are laser-focused on our commitment to 
achieve carbon neutrality for our entire footprint by 2030, a goal we have already 
reached for our own operations. At the same time, we’re working to one day make 
our products without taking from the earth, and to be a force for equity in the world 
around us.
Across all of these efforts, we never lose sight of our primary mission — working 
to address the climate crisis. It’s an urgent challenge no one company, entity or 
individual can tackle alone, and this year, we’re addressing it with more ambition than 
ever before. In fact, we’ve begun to decouple business growth from emissions as we 
drive towards our goal of bringing our entire carbon footprint to net zero by 2030 — 
including our supply chain and the use of our products. While our revenue grew  
33 percent, our net emissions remained flat. 
Today, 213 of our suppliers — representing the majority of Apple’s direct supplier 
spend — are committed to using 100 percent renewable energy for their Apple 
business. In the last year, we more than doubled the amount of clean energy used to 
manufacture Apple products.
We’re also making great strides toward our goal of one day making our products 
without mining. In fiscal year 2021, nearly 20 percent of the materials we shipped in 
Apple products came from recycled sources. We’ve more than doubled our use of 
recycled tungsten, rare earth elements, and cobalt. And initiatives like our Apple Trade 
In program, and advancements in recycling technology, continue to reduce our impact 
on the planet by using yesterday’s products to help build tomorrow’s.
Reflections
Introduction    Climate Change    Resources    Smarter Chemistry    Engagement    Appendix
2022 Environmental Progress Report  3

We also know that a greener future must be a more equitable one. It’s why we 
continue to advance our Impact Accelerator, which invests in a diverse class of 
entrepreneurs developing next generation innovations in green technologies. That 
includes leaders like Karl Johnson, whose company develops environmentally-friendly 
adhesives that make it easier to repair and recycle new technologies, or Betty Manetta 
whose company has pioneered an AI-based, real-time data collection process to 
assess energy consumption for its users.
Equity also drives the mission of our Power for Impact initiative, which we launched to 
help connect underserved communities with clean, renewable energy. In communities 
from South Africa to the Philippines, from Thailand to Israel, we’ve helped bring solar 
and wind energy to schools, hospitals, and rural communities.
And, working with Conservation International and Goldman Sachs, our Restore Fund 
invests to develop working forests — which support local economic opportunity while 
sequestering carbon from the atmosphere.
At Apple, we believe in making bold commitments to improve the world around us — 
and taking bold steps to meet them. We set measurable goals, and then we get to 
the hard work of getting them done. And along the way, we share updates with our 
customers, our partners, and the communities we touch.
As always, we’re grateful for your interest in this work and to all our partners for joining 
Apple’s journey. And we can’t wait to share all of the innovations we have in store.
Lisa Jackson
2022 Environmental Progress Report  4
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The environmental challenges we face today are significant, and we are responding 
with urgency and dedication. We approach our work by focusing on fundamental 
questions. What matters most? And where can we make the greatest impact?  
These questions guide our work across our strategic pillars of climate change, 
resources, and smarter chemistry — and inform our goals in how we can best 
achieve change. We know we’re not alone in working to reduce our environmental 
footprint. So we’re engaging with others to support our efforts and find opportunities  
to lift local communities along the way. 
Our environmental 
strategy
Climate Change
 
We’re already carbon neutral for our 
corporate operations and we’ve set a 
goal to become carbon neutral for our 
entire product footprint by 2030. We plan 
to get there by reducing our emissions 
by 75 percent compared with 2015, 
and then investing in carbon removal 
solutions for the remaining emissions.
     Low-carbon design 
     Energy efficiency 
     Renewable electricity 
     Direct emissions abatement 
     Carbon removal 
Smarter Chemistry
 
Through chemistry innovation and 
rigorous controls, we design our 
products to be safe for anyone who 
assembles, uses, or recycles them — 
and to be better for the environment.
     Mapping and engagement 
     Assessment and management 
     Innovation 
Resources
 
We aim to make durable, long-lasting 
products and packaging using only 
recycled or renewable materials, and 
enhance material recovery. At the same 
time, we’re committed to stewarding 
water resources and sending zero 
waste to landfill.
     Materials  
     Water 
     Zero waste 
Engagement
 
By engaging with others on our environmental work, we can achieve an even greater impact 
that considers communities around the world. We learn from feedback and we work with 
partners to influence change in our industries. And we are transparent about our challenges 
and achievements to inspire others to take their own action. 
2022 Environmental Progress Report  5
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We create products and services to enrich the lives of our customers.  
And we strive to do so in a way that sustains the planet and the resources  
that we all depend on. Setting ambitious goals is essential to this — to drive  
the innovation and collaboration that makes change possible and to be  
transparent and accountable to our progress. 
Goals
Achieve carbon neutrality  
for our entire carbon  
footprint by 2030,  
and reach our science-
based emissions  
reduction target
Create products with  
net zero carbon impact  
by 2030 
Transition our entire  
product supply chain  
to 100% renewable  
electricity by 2030
Climate Change
Drive comprehensive  
reporting of chemicals used 
in our supply chain to make 
our products 
Integrate smarter  
chemistry innovation into  
the way we design and  
build our products
Avoid exposure to  
chemicals that could be 
harmful to human health  
or the environment
Smarter Chemistry
Use only recycled and 
renewable materials in our 
products and packaging, and 
enhance material recovery 
Eliminate plastics in  
our packaging by 2025
Reduce water impacts in  
the manufacturing of our 
products, use of our services, 
and operation of our facilities
Eliminate waste sent to  
landfill from our corporate 
facilities and our suppliers 
Resources
2022 Environmental Progress Report  6
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Carbon neutral for 
corporate emissions
 
Since April 2020, we’ve achieved carbon 
neutrality for our corporate emissions by 
sourcing 100 percent renewable electricity 
for Apple facilities, implementing energy 
efficiency initiatives, and securing carbon 
offsets for remaining emissions. 
-––>    Read more on page 15
Report 
highlights
In this past year, we’ve  
continued to show considerable 
progress — a testament  
to the dedication, hard work, 
and innovative approaches 
to complex challenges of our 
employees, suppliers, industry 
partners, and stakeholders. 
Our objectives remain clear: 
to reduce our impact, create 
equitable solutions, and drive 
broader change within the 
industry and our communities. 
Our progress can be measured 
by our achievements across our 
business. And the challenges 
that remain galvanize our  
efforts and drive us forward.
Supported 10 
renewable projects 
through Power for 
Impact
 
We funded 10 clean energy projects 
that support economic growth, 
social impact, and equity in under-
resourced communities around the 
world, while advancing Apple’s carbon 
neutrality goal.
-––>    Read more on page 27
40% overall emissions 
reductions
 
In fiscal year 2021, our environmental 
initiatives avoided over 23 million metric 
tons of emissions across all scopes, and 
we reduced our carbon footprint by  
40 percent compared with fiscal year 
2015. Efforts and initiatives that we’ve 
been growing for years made this  
possible — like sourcing 100 percent 
renewable electricity for our facilities, 
transitioning suppliers to clean energy, and 
using low-carbon materials in products.
-––>    Read more on page 14
213 suppliers 
committed to 
renewable electricity
 
As of March 2022, 213 suppliers have 
committed to renewable electricity 
for Apple production, representing 
the majority of Apple’s direct supplier 
spend. In fiscal year 2021, Apple 
and its suppliers brought online over 
10 gigawatts of renewable energy in our 
supply chain, doubling the amount from 
the prior year.
-––>    Read more on page 24
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Continuing innovation 
on material recovery 
 
This year we introduced our latest recycling 
machine, Taz, which is designed to recover 
modules containing rare earth magnets 
typically lost in conventional shredders, 
helping improve our overall material 
recovery rate. We’ve also expanded  
Daisy’s recycling capabilities from  
15 to 23 models of iPhone and continue to 
develop Dave, our robot that disassembles 
Taptic Engines and helps recover valuable 
rare earth magnets, tungsten, and steel.
--––>    Read more on page 50
Partner of the Year 
award from the EPA
 
For the second year in a row, we 
received the EPA Safer Choice Partner 
of the Year Award, recognizing our 
work to scale the use of safer process 
chemicals and protect those working in 
our supply chain. In 2020, Apple was the 
first consumer electronics company to 
receive this award.
--––>    Read more on page 71
75% less plastic in 
packaging compared  
with 2015
 
In fiscal year 2021, plastics accounted 
for only 4 percent of our packaging —
which marks significant progress toward 
our goal to eliminate plastics from our 
packaging entirely by 2025.
--––>    Read more on page 42
Welcomed the first 
class of the Impact 
Accelerator
 
Fifteen Black-, Hispanic/Latinx-, and 
Indigenous-owned businesses on 
the cutting edge of green technology 
and clean energy participated in 
Apple’s inaugural Impact Accelerator, 
a unique program designed to expand 
opportunities within Apple’s supply 
chain and beyond. The Accelerator 
aims to help combat systemic barriers 
to opportunity, while also advancing 
innovative solutions to environmental 
challenges like climate change.
--––>    Read more on page 81
More products with 
more recycled content
 
We’re making progress toward our goal 
of transitioning to 100 percent recycled 
and renewable materials in our products. 
In fiscal year 2021, we more than 
doubled our use of recycled tungsten, 
rare earth elements, and cobalt — and 
introduced certified recycled gold for the 
first time in an Apple product.
-––>    Read more on page 34
Suppliers eliminating 
landfill waste 
 
Established final assembly and sub-
assembly sites for Apple Watch Series 
7 do not send any waste to landfill. 
This builds on our progress of all final 
assembly sites making Apple products 
without sending waste to landfill.
--––>    Read more on page 58
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Climate 
Change
We’re committed 
to making all of our 
products carbon 
neutral by 2030
Introduction    Climate Change    Resources    Smarter Chemistry    Engagement    Appendix
2022 Environmental Progress Report  9

Goals and  
progress
At Apple, we’re committed to doing our part to fight climate change. For us,  
this means taking bold action. Our goal to be carbon neutral by 2030 is both 
ambitious and necessary. The efforts that support this goal require innovations  
at scale — like designing and implementing new technologies, mobilizing innovative 
financing, and rapidly deploying renewable energy. This chapter looks at our  
latest progress. We are continuing to deploy solutions to address our remaining 
footprint with great urgency.
Achieve carbon neutrality  
for our entire carbon footprint, 
including products, by 2030.  
And reduce related emissions  
by 75% compared with  
fiscal year 2015
40% emissions 
reduction since 2015 
across our value chain
Established the $200M Apple 
Restore Fund with the aim of 
removing over 1M metric tons 
of carbon per year
23M metric tons of emissions 
avoided in fiscal year 2021 
alone due to carbon reduction 
initiatives across our value chain 
Achieved since April 2020 by implementing 
energy efficiency initiatives, sourcing 100% 
renewable electricity for Apple facilities, and 
securing carbon offsets for the remaining 
corporate emissions
Become carbon neutral  
for corporate operations
0
Transition our entire  
manufacturing supply 
chain to 100% renewable 
electricity by 2030
As of March 2022, 213 suppliers have 
committed to 100% renewable electricity 
for Apple production, representing  
the majority of Apple’s direct worldwide 
spend for materials, manufacturing, and 
assembly of products
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$4.7B 
We’ve issued $4.7 billion 
in green bonds to model 
how businesses can drive 
investments to reduce 
global emissions. In our 
latest Green Bond Impact 
Report, we share progress 
on the projects funded in 
fiscal year 2021. 
Read our latest Green 
Bond report (PDF). 
With each year, the impacts of climate 
change become more clear. From 
shifting weather patterns that threaten 
food production, to widespread wildfires 
that devastate entire communities and 
ecosystems, the dangers are global 
in scope and unprecedented in their 
pace of change. They pose a threat to 
fundamental human rights — life, health, 
food, and adequate standard of living — 
and are experienced disproportionately in 
low-income and historically marginalized 
communities. Global, comprehensive, and 
immediate action today can prevent even 
worse impacts of climate change. 
As a global business, we believe it is our responsibility to take 
strong, decisive, and inclusive steps to mitigate our climate 
impact. We’ve committed to achieving carbon neutrality — 
reducing emissions 75 percent compared with fiscal year 2015 
and balancing the residual emissions with carbon removal 
— across the life cycle of our products by 2030.1 This goal is 
more aggressive than the recommendation for global carbon 
neutrality by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 
by 20 years.2 It’s an ambitious plan with plenty of challenges 
ahead. But we’re already well on our way, having cut emissions 
across our value chain by 40 percent since fiscal year 2015. 
Our work began years ago, making the transition to sourcing 
100 percent renewable electricity at our offices, retail stores, 
and data centers, which we achieved in 2018. And in 2020, we 
took steps to be carbon neutral for our corporate emissions, 
including business travel and employee commute.
Our approach
Our philosophy for achieving carbon neutrality follows 
these principles:
Calculate our footprint across our value chain: Our 
responsibility extends beyond our direct operations to product-
related emissions. That’s why we model our emissions across 
the entire life cycle of our products — including the sourcing  
of raw materials, manufacturing, shipping, product use, and 
end-of-life processing.3 We use the results of our detailed 
carbon accounting to adjust our 2030 Climate Roadmap, 
which lays out our plan to become carbon neutral. 
Set ambitious targets: Our plan to reach neutrality by  
2030 centers around our strategy to reduce emissions by  
75 percent, relative to our fiscal year 2015 carbon footprint. 
This reduction aligns with what current climate science shows 
is necessary to limit warming to 1.5°C.4 We plan to invest in 
high-quality carbon removal projects to address the remaining 
emissions, prioritizing nature-based solutions. And by focusing 
on emissions reduction, we’re tackling the transformative work 
of making low-carbon products.
Match solutions to sources: For each activity within our 
value chain, we seek out decarbonization actions that tie to the 
source of those emissions. For example, we’ll look to reduce 
emissions from electricity using renewable electricity and 
emissions from transportation using alternative fuels and lower-
carbon modes of transport. By matching solutions to carbon 
sources, we will do our part to decarbonize the economy.
Make environmental progress good for our business:  
We are proving every day that there is no trade-off between 
what is good for the planet and what is good for business. 
That means that we seek out climate solutions that are cost-
competitive, offer a financial return, or benefit our customers 
— for example, creating investment funds for clean energy and 
nature-based solutions, designed to deliver both environmental 
benefits and financial returns. And when we design products 
to be energy efficient and use recycled content, we view 
these as product features that add value for our customers. 
By underpinning our climate strategy with strong business 
principles, we aim to harness the power of markets to replicate 
our solutions at scale, creating an impact necessary to meet 
global reduction targets.
2022 Environmental Progress Report  11
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Explore all solutions: Reaching our 2030 carbon goal will 
require scaling proven solutions that are available today, as well 
as exploring the solutions of the future. This includes facilitating 
the development of new technologies, like direct carbon-free 
aluminum smelting, creating novel financial instruments such 
as the Apple Restore Fund, advancing policies that support a 
low-carbon economy, and continuing to invest in research and 
development to enable decarbonizing our products by 2030.
Be open: We are committed to disclosing our carbon footprint, 
climate strategy and progress, as well as climate-related risk. 
By sharing our approach, we aim to send clear signals to our 
partners and invite them to work with us. We also hope to 
empower our peers in their pursuit of carbon neutrality and 
engage investors through green bonds. This means sharing our 
setbacks with our successes. We recognize the difficulty of this 
work and acknowledge when our progress does not align with 
our projections. Our annual Environmental Progress Reports, 
as well as our response to the global disclosure nonprofit CDP, 
provide details on our progress.
Our 10-year Climate Roadmap is addressing 
Apple’s carbon footprint through five pillars:
Low-carbon design
We will design products and 
manufacturing processes 
to be less carbon-intensive 
through thoughtful material 
selection, increased 
material efficiency, 
and greater product 
energy efficiency.
Energy efficiency
We will increase energy 
efficiency at our facilities 
and in our supply chain  
by finding opportunities, 
such as retrofitting, to 
reduce energy use.
Renewable electricity
We will maintain our use 
of 100 percent renewable 
electricity for our facilities 
and transition our entire 
supply chain to 100 percent 
clean, renewable sources 
of electricity.
Direct emissions  
abatement
We will reduce direct 
greenhouse gas emissions 
in our facilities and our 
supply chain through 
process innovation, 
emissions abatement,  
and the use of 
non‑fossil‑based 
low‑carbon fuels.
Carbon removal
Working in parallel with our 
emissions reduction efforts, 
we will scale up investments 
in carbon removal projects, 
including nature‑based 
solutions that protect and 
restore ecosystems around 
the world.
Co2
Consider underrepresented communities: Low-income 
and historically marginalized communities too often bear the 
brunt of the effects of climate change. So we’re pursuing ways 
to directly consider these communities in our climate program 
— like with the Apple Impact Accelerator, which aims to bolster 
equity and foster opportunity for Black-, Hispanic/Latinx-, and 
Indigenous-owned businesses in the environmental sector. 
We’re advocating for greater access to clean energy and 
investing in renewable energy projects in emerging markets. 
And we’re targeting carbon removal projects that aim to 
improve the livelihoods of local and Indigenous communities.
>75% emissions reduction
>75% emissions reduction
<25% of footprint
<25% of footprint
2022 Environmental Progress Report  12
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This past year we intensified our efforts 
to reduce Apple’s emissions. In fiscal 
year 2021, we avoided over 23 million 
metric tons of emissions across all 
scopes. Initiatives that we’ve been 
growing for years — like sourcing  
100 percent renewable electricity for 
our facilities, transitioning suppliers to 
clean energy, and using low-carbon 
materials in products — yielded 
indisputable results. 
Thanks to this work, we’ve begun 
to decouple business growth from 
emissions: While our revenue grew  
33 percent, our emissions grew by less 
than 5 percent. To mitigate this increase 
in emissions, we applied an additional 
0.6 million tons of renewable energy 
credits (RECs) and 0.5 million metric 
tons of carbon offsets to proportionally 
cover electricity use and direct 
emissions, respectively, across our value 
chain.5 This represents a short-term 
bridging solution as we grow our carbon 
reduction programs to meet the scale  
of the challenge.
Apple’s comprehensive 
carbon footprint
	
 
Gross emissions
 	
 
Avoided emissions
	
 
Emissions offset
*      Low-carbon materials represents emissions savings from transitioning 
to recycled materials in our products, or use of low-carbon aluminum, 
as described on page 17. 
**    Net carbon emissions represents our total gross footprint minus  
carbon offsets applied to each category. Percentages shown for each 
emissions category represent the share of Apple’s gross footprint. 
Totals add up to more than 100 percent, due to rounding.
22.5 million metric tons  
net carbon emissions**
Corporate footprint
Product footprint
0.02% 
Direct emissions 
(Scope 1)
0%
Electricity
(Scope 2)
0.5%
Business travel  
and commute
(Scope 3)
70%
Product manufacturing
(Scope 3)
22%
Product use
(Scope 3)
8%
Product transport
(Scope 3)
0.3%
End-of-life product 
processing
(Scope 3)
Gross emissions
Offsets
Emissions 
categories 
(% of gross 
emissions)
2022 Environmental Progress Report  13
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Corporate 
Corporate 
energy 
energy 
efficiency:
efficiency:  
0.06 million metric  
tons avoided  
Use of renewable 
Use of renewable 
electricity:
electricity:
1.0 million metric  
tons avoided
Load reduction and  
Load reduction and  
mode switching: 
mode switching:  
0.2 million metric    
tons avoided
tons avoided
FY21 REC purchase:
FY21 REC purchase:
0.2 million metric tons avoided
Product energy efficiency:
Product energy efficiency:
0.2 million metric tons avoided
Supplier clean energy:
Supplier clean energy:
13.9 million metric tons avoided
Low-carbon materials*:
Low-carbon materials*:
7.3 million metric tons avoided
FY21 REC purchase:
FY21 REC purchase:
0.4 million metric tons avoided
Supplier energy efficiency:
Supplier energy efficiency:
1.1 million metric tons avoided

* Error bars: We’re continuously refining our methodology to improve our carbon footprint estimate. 
However, there is uncertainty inherent to modeling product-related carbon emissions, which we’ve 
illustrated through error bars in this graphic.
** Future emissions: Future emissions, including offsets and removals, are displayed as a linear trend 
to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030. Actual future emissions will likely not be linear.
Our plan to become carbon neutral by 2030 centers around a 75 percent 
emissions reduction target, compared with our fiscal year 2015 footprint.  
We plan to address residual emissions through carbon removals. Already,  
we’ve reduced our gross carbon footprint6 by 40 percent since fiscal year 2015. 
However, in recent years we have seen our footprint level out with the substantial 
growth of our business. We continue to scale the projects underpinning our 
2030 Climate Roadmap, in order to yield further reductions in the medium term.
Progress toward 
net zero
2013
2012
Historical emissions
 	Gross emissions
 	Avoided emissions
 	Emissions offset/removal
 	 Emissions range from modeling uncertainty*
2018
2024
2015
2020
2026
2014
2019
2025
2016
2021
2027
2029
2017
2023
2022
2028
2030
 	Gross emissions
 	Emissions offset/removal
 	Net difference between projected carbon 
emissions and projected removals
Future emissions (illustrative only)**
30.9
Gross emissions
Net emissions
34.2
29.5
25.2
33.8
38.4
27.5
25.1
22.6
23.2
22.5
22.5
Net zero carbon 
Net zero carbon 
emissions by 2030
emissions by 2030
(million metric tons CO2e per fiscal year) 
2022 Environmental Progress Report  14
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We’re carbon neutral  
for our corporate emissions
Since April 2020, we have been carbon neutral for our 
corporate emissions, including direct emissions (scope 1), 
electricity-related emissions (scope 2), as well as emissions 
from business travel and employee commute (scope 3).  
To reach neutrality, we focused on driving energy efficiency 
improvements and transitioning our facilities to 100 percent 
renewable electricity, which we achieved in 2018. These 
programs have reduced our scope 1 and scope 2 emissions 
by 67 percent, even as our business grew. We’ve addressed 
the remaining scope 1 and 2 emissions, as well as scope 3 
emissions from business travel and employee commute  
(for a total of 167,000 metric tons) by securing high-quality 
carbon credits from projects that protect and restore forests, 
wetlands, and grasslands.
How we measure our footprint 
We calculate our comprehensive carbon footprint using 
a life cycle–based approach. Apple-specific data drives 
many of our most critical calculations; in cases where that 
data isn’t available, we rely on secondary sources, including 
industry averages. We continually refine our model to include 
new sources of product life cycle data — and offer a more 
accurate and transparent assessment of our footprint. Our 
comprehensive carbon footprint and our methodology are 
verified by a third party each year to help ensure accuracy and 
transparency (see Appendix C). Improving the accuracy of our 
carbon footprint is an ongoing process — as we learn more, 
we revise our roadmap to incorporate new information. And, 
as our data improves, we will continue to refine our emissions 
accounting for previous years, as well as our projections. 
We’re evaluating climate risks
We’ve conducted a climate scenario analysis to help us better 
understand the potential physical and transition effects of 
climate change. To align with the Task Force on Climate-
Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations, we 
considered a range of future scenarios, including a scenario 
below 2°C. And we assessed geographies around the world 
to capture both corporate and supplier activities. The analysis 
highlighted how our renewable energy program and carbon 
neutrality goals could contribute to our corporate resiliency. 
It also provided environmental data that we consider in 
developing business strategies, including considerations 
around supply chain diversification, as well as safeguarding  
our global assets.
We’re committed to 
managing regulatory, 
reputational, and  
market risks related  
to climate change.
For more information  
on these climate-
related risks and Apple’s 
governance of these 
risks, read our 2021 CDP 
submission (PDF).
We’re carbon neutral for our corporate operations, 
having reduced scope 1 and 2 emissions by 67% since 2011
Offices
Retail stores
Data centers
Business travel
Employee commute
2022 Environmental Progress Report  15
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Low-carbon  
design
Apple sells hundreds of millions of 
products each year. Each product 
represents an opportunity to reduce 
our carbon footprint — small changes 
can yield enormous results. Our carbon 
footprint helps us identify opportunities  
to reduce the carbon intensity of our 
product designs. We are working to 
transition to materials from recycled 
sources and those made using low-carbon 
energy. We prioritize the materials and 
components that account for significant 
portions of our carbon emissions, so 
that the choices we make product-by-
product can scale toward reducing our 
overall footprint.
Improving material and 
manufacturing efficiency
Less means more when it comes to our approach to  
materials and how we process them. By reducing the amount 
of materials used to make our products, we reduce the 
emissions from transporting and processing these materials, 
and limit the amount of scrap generated along the way.  
And as we progress toward our 2030 carbon neutrality goal, 
we continue to investigate new materials and new ways to 
manufacture efficiently.
In 2021, we continued to improve the carbon efficiency of the 
integrated circuits we use in our products — components 
we’ve prioritized because they are carbon-intensive. Integrated 
circuits perform vital functions in electronic devices, yet require 
significant energy to manufacture. With the Apple M1 chip, 
we’ve created a more efficiently designed chip built specifically 
for Mac devices. For example, switching to the Apple M1 chip 
for the 13-inch MacBook Pro reduced the energy needed to 
manufacture and use the device, driving down the product’s 
carbon footprint by over 8 percent.
To take these efforts one step further, in October 2021, Apple 
became the first public company to join the Sustainable 
Semiconductor Technologies and Systems research 
program of Imec, a world-leading research and innovation 
hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies. Our goal 
in collaborating is twofold: to improve the data associated 
with integrated circuit production, from end to end; and 
to use improved data and shared expertise to identify 
carbon reduction opportunities for the entire integrated 
circuits industry. 
And we continue to investigate new opportunities for improved 
efficiency across our product manufacturing processes. In 
2021, we invested in research and development projects 
aimed at creating less waste in the processing of materials, 
reducing machining time and the associated energy used, 
more efficiently transforming material into the shapes we need, 
and maximizing recovery and reprocessing of manufacturing 
scrap. Once successfully developed, we plan to deploy these 
improved processes at scale at our supplier facilities.
Apple was the first public 
partner to join the new 
Imec research program 
aimed at reducing the 
carbon footprint of the 
entire semiconductor 
value chain.
To minimize the carbon footprint of our products, we seek to create less waste in the processing of 
materials, reduce machining time and the associated energy used, more efficiently transform material 
into the shapes we need, and maximize recovery and reprocessing of manufacturing scrap. 
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Using recycled materials  
to lower our product footprint
Material selection is another way to reduce the carbon footprint 
of our products. Our strategy is to transition to materials 
manufactured using low-carbon energy and recycled content. 
We’ve prioritized materials and components that make up a 
large part of our carbon footprint to move us closer to our goal 
of product carbon neutrality.
We’ve seen clear progress with aluminum, which in 2015 
represented over a quarter of our product manufacturing 
footprint. We’ve continued to expand our use of 100 percent 
recycled aluminum in the enclosures of a number of products: 
All iPad models in our lineup now use 100 percent recycled 
aluminum in their enclosures — joining Apple Watch Series 
7, Apple Watch SE, MacBook Air, Mac mini, and the 14-inch 
and 16-inch MacBook Pro devices. For products released in 
2021 that had enclosures made with primary aluminum, we 
prioritized the use of aluminum smelted using low-carbon 
sources of electricity rather than fossil fuels — for a lower 
carbon impact. These changes alone have decreased the 
carbon emissions associated with our use of aluminum by  
68 percent since 2015.
We’re also making progress in how we source recycled 
aluminum. The material we derive from our manufacturing 
scrap provides high-quality aluminum with fewer associated 
carbon emissions than newly mined materials. And we’re 
expanding our sourcing to include post-consumer recycled 
aluminum from building and construction scrap that meets 
the high standards our products require. These emissions 
reduction efforts have driven down our aluminum-related 
emissions to less than 9 percent of our product manufacturing 
footprint, compared with 27 percent in 2015.
Read more about how we 
plan to address emissions 
from our customers’ use 
of our Apple products 
on page 26.
68% 
By switching to recycled 
and low-carbon 
aluminum, our carbon 
emissions associated 
with aluminum have 
decreased by 68 percent 
since 2015.
Mac mini
iPad Air
iPad Pro (11-inch 
anD 12.9-inch)
MacBook Air
MacBook Pro (14-inch and 16-inch)
IPAD
All these products 
contain 100% recycled 
aluminum enclosures
Apple Watch SE
Apple Watch Series 7
iPad Mini
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Driving product energy efficiency 
We approach low carbon product design by working to 
enhance performance, while pursuing energy efficiency. 
Product energy use accounts for 22 percent of our gross 
carbon footprint — and has an impact on the individual energy 
use of each of our customers. This is why we’ve set aggressive 
targets to reduce our products’ energy usage. We approach 
this challenge in the earliest phases of design, taking a holistic 
view of each product from how efficiently software operates to 
the power requirements of individual components. 
With each generation of products, we make improvements 
to energy efficiency. The transition to Apple silicon on Mac 
devices, for example, continues to drive these improvements 
— the Mac mini consumes up to 60 percent less energy while 
in active use than the previous generation.7 We’ve cut the 
product energy use across all major product lines by more 
than 70 percent since 2008 through our energy efficiency 
improvements.8 And Apple products are consistently rated by 
ENERGY STAR, which sets specifications that reflect the  
25 percent most energy-efficient devices on the market. In 
fiscal year 2021, over 99 percent of Apple eligible products,  
by revenue, received an ENERGY STAR rating for superior 
energy efficiency.9 And over 99 percent of Apple eligible 
products, by revenue, met the requirements for EPEAT 
registration.10 EPEAT, another environmental rating system  
for electronic products, considers energy efficiency as well  
as a number of other environmental criteria.
Product energy efficiency
Over the course of  
a year, Mac Studio  
will use up to  
1000 kilowatt-hours 
less energy than a  
high-end PC desktop.11
iPhone 13 uses 
54 percent less 
energy than the U.S. 
Department of Energy 
requirements for battery 
charger systems.13
Mac mini uses up  
to 60 percent less 
energy while in active 
use than the previous 
generation, thanks 
to the use of Apple 
silicon.12
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Our energy efficiency goals extend  
well beyond our products. We’re 
focused on using less energy across 
our operations, beginning with how we 
design, operate, and maintain our facilities. 
And we continue these same efforts 
into our supply chain, which benefits the 
communities where our suppliers operate: 
Drawing less energy from electrical grids 
— many of which still rely heavily on fossil 
fuels — helps reduce local air pollution and 
improve air quality for nearby communities. 
Energy efficiency is also essential to meeting our 2030 
carbon neutrality goal. So we track and monitor energy use 
across our operations and supply chain, conducting audits to 
find opportunities to work more efficiently. And we view our 
energy use holistically, from the point of design to the point 
of manufacture.
Operating Apple facilities efficiently
Finding ways to avoid using energy in the first place is the 
central focus of our energy efficiency program. We consider 
natural gas and electricity usage at each site — our offices, 
data centers, R&D facilities, and retail stores — auditing how 
we perform and, when needed, using best practices for energy 
management to reduce our loads. And we tailor the design 
of new buildings to our occupants’ and lab users’ specific 
needs. This approach helps ensure that our facilities are utilized 
efficiently and productively.
There are significant opportunities to save energy in 
retrocommissioning buildings that Apple already occupies 
or operates, including energy-intensive facilities like data 
centers. We audit the performance of buildings around 
the world, and then deploy identified reduction measures. 
Retrocommissioning focuses on building controls, emphasizing 
energy use reduction and operational efficiency.
For example, we conducted a comprehensive 
retrocommissioning of one section of our campus in  
Cupertino, California, over the past several years. This effort 
was a partnership between our Apple Energy and Controls 
teams with significant support from the local energy utility.  
In the site audit, we uncovered several opportunities for  
energy efficiency, including optimizing HVAC scheduling 
and start sequences, and improving outside air economizer 
operation. These adjustments resulted in energy savings of 
over 670,000 kilowatt-hours per year, with a simple payback  
of just under four months. 
Data centers are traditionally energy-intensive, requiring 
significant resources to cool the heat-generating equipment. 
That’s why we’re continuously monitoring and improving upon 
the controls for our cooling systems. This retrospective view 
often enables us to increase cooling capacity of our existing 
facility, thereby maximizing the amount of servers within our 
data center footprint.
We further improved energy efficiency at data centers by 
developing a specification requiring our servers to be powered 
by high-efficiency power supplies — exceeding even the 
efficiency requirements for ENERGY STAR certification. We 
deployed these high-performance power supplies to hundreds 
of thousands of servers in 2021, resulting in over 4 million 
kilowatt-hours per year in energy savings. 
Measurement is critical to maintaining building energy 
performance. We continue to develop our system of energy 
tracking and benchmarking, which includes data from utility 
meters that continuously monitor 15-minute electricity and 
daily natural gas energy consumption. This method helps us 
identify performance issues at our sites early. We can then take 
corrective action to restore building system efficiencies and 
actively manage our energy footprint.
When designing new facilities, we incorporate energy 
efficiency principles early in the process. We look at each 
location’s conditions, planning for local temperature, humidity, 
and light. As each site becomes operational, we monitor how 
well we’re performing and make needed adjustments.
15.7M 
We reduced Apple’s 
facilities energy use  
by 15.7 million kilowatt-
hours through efficiency 
efforts implemented in 
fiscal year 2021.
Energy efficiency
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In fiscal year 2021, our energy efficiency program avoided an 
additional 15.7 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and 27,000 
therms of natural gas per year through adjustments made to 
7.1 million square feet of new and existing buildings. Together, 
these new initiatives reduced total energy use by 7 percent in 
targeted buildings and will avoid an additional 6,100 metric tons 
of CO2e per year. Combined with ongoing energy savings from 
past years, we are now cumulatively saving over 60,000 metric 
tons of CO2e in fiscal year 2021. In addition to these savings, 
Apple further reduced its energy use by adjusting lighting and 
climate controls during the periods of reduced occupancy 
resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.14 
A more energy-efficient supply chain
The energy used to manufacture Apple products accounts 
for 70 percent of Apple’s gross carbon footprint. To address 
this impact, we’re collaborating closely with our suppliers to 
prioritize energy reductions and efforts to shift to renewable 
energy sources. 
We launched our Supplier Energy Efficiency Program in  
2015 with the goal of helping suppliers optimize their 
facilities and operations to use as little energy as possible. 
Finding energy efficiencies reduces the energy intensity of 
manufacturing, which translates to reduced direct carbon 
emissions. We provide guidance designed to help suppliers 
uncover opportunities for energy efficiency. We also assist 
them with assessments and technical support where 
appropriate. Typical projects may include replacing outdated 
or inefficient heating, cooling, and lighting systems; repairing 
compressed air leaks; and recovering waste heat.
We’ve focused our efforts on the impact of some of our most 
popular products. One example is our three-year initiative to 
improve the efficiency of iPhone manufacturing. Collectively, 
the six participating supplier facilities achieved their goal of  
20 percent reductions by the end of 2020 compared with the 
2017 baseline. In addition, final assembly sites for AirPods, 
iPad, and Apple Watch all launched multiyear energy reduction 
initiatives in 2020. 
While the program has resulted in significant energy  
savings since launching, scaling it across Apple’s entire 
manufacturing supply chain remains a challenge, because 
of the level of support we provide to individual suppliers. 
To address this challenge, we’ve focused on improving 
measurement and data collection, capacity building, and 
access to funding opportunities. 
Reducing energy use begins with measuring and 
understanding the carbon footprint of one’s business. 
Since 2019, as part of Apple’s Supplier Code of Conduct, 
we’ve required our suppliers to regularly identify sources 
of emissions, measure their scope 1 and scope 2 carbon 
emissions, and make this information available to Apple as 
needed.15 By understanding the sources and quantity of a 
supplier’s carbon emissions, we are able to provide resources 
to support the supplier in creating an action plan with the goal 
of becoming optimally energy efficient. 
We also provide broad support to suppliers through workshops 
and trainings, including multiday classroom trainings for 
employees, resulting in plans for energy efficiency measures 
to be implemented at their respective facilities. We continue to 
expand the support we provide to suppliers as they build more 
energy-efficient systems, through new training and educational 
materials, and increased access to funding opportunities — 
like the Asia Green Fund, which Apple launched in 2019 to 
help provide energy efficiency expertise and finance capital-
intensive energy efficiency projects. To date, US$8.5 million 
of investments have been made in supplier efficiency projects 
using the Asia Green Fund.
Working with our suppliers to reduce their energy consumption, 
we avoided more than 1.15 million metric tons of carbon from 
manufacturing Apple products in fiscal year 2021. That year, 
more than 100 supplier facilities participated in our Supplier 
Energy Efficiency Program, actively tracking and reporting on 
more than 2000 projects — a 39 percent increase since the 
prior year.
1.15M 
Suppliers in our Supplier 
Energy Efficiency program 
avoided more than 
1,150,000 annualized 
metric tons of supply  
chain carbon emissions  
in fiscal year 2021.
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Renewable 
electricity
We’re at a pivotal moment in addressing 
climate change. Renewable energy is 
poised to replace fossil fuels as the  
future of electricity. Its adoption means 
cleaner air, stronger economies, and  
lower carbon emissions. 
Apple has generated or sourced 100 percent renewable 
electricity for its corporate operations since 2018 and we are 
now committed to transitioning our entire supply chain to  
100 percent renewable electricity as well.
As we grow, we continue to bring new renewable electricity 
projects online around the world. In the long term, these 
projects provide more cost-effective energy with less price 
volatility. Renewable electricity can offer a competitive 
advantage by providing power to our operations, as well as 
those of our suppliers, with greater control over energy supply 
and reduced exposure to cost fluctuations. And by adopting 
green technologies, we are in a unique position with our 
suppliers to drive environmental action and support our goal  
of carbon neutrality by 2030.
Our approach is twofold. We find ways to consume energy 
more efficiently, and we seek out opportunities to transition 
to renewable sources that support our goal of 100 percent 
renewable electricity across our operations and supply chain.
With the renewable energy we source, we aim to achieve 
positive impacts. Before we engage in an energy project, we 
evaluate it with a holistic view of its potential environmental and 
social impact. Whenever possible, we focus on creating new 
renewable electricity projects, going above and beyond what 
might be available on the local grid. We also follow stringent 
accountability standards to verify our clean energy projects.
Since 2018, Apple has sourced all of the electricity for its facilities from 100 percent renewable energy. The 200-megawatt Montague wind farm in Oregon is one of Apple’s 
largest projects and supports our Prineville data center. 
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90% 
Apple-created renewable 
sources account for 
over 90 percent of the 
renewable electricity our 
facilities use.
Maintaining 100% renewable  
electricity for Apple facilities
Our retail stores, data centers, and offices around the world 
currently source 100 percent renewable electricity. We are 
proud of this accomplishment — and as we grow, we’re 
working diligently to maintain this benchmark. We’ve focused 
our efforts to source renewables around several key pillars: 
creating new renewable energy projects, undertaking projects 
that deliver clear benefits to local communities, and supporting 
renewable energy innovations.
Creating new projects
We focus on creating new renewable electricity projects. New 
projects require investment — whether in the form of direct 
ownership, equity investments, or long-term power purchase 
agreements. In total, Apple-created renewable sources 
account for over 90 percent of the renewable electricity our 
facilities use — around 1.5 gigawatts currently in use. 
We define “Apple-created” projects to include:
• Direct ownership  
(~9 percent of Apple‑created projects) 
We build our own projects, including solar, biogas fuel cells, 
and low-impact hydro projects, where feasible, to provide 
renewable electricity.
• Equity investment  
(~3 percent of Apple‑created projects)  
We invest capital in new solar PV or wind projects in some 
markets, matching the renewable energy generated with  
our energy use.
• Long-term renewable energy contracts  
(~87 percent of Apple‑created projects)16
   We sign long‑term contracts for renewable electricity when 
needed. Through power purchase agreements, virtual 
power purchase agreements, and other forms of long-term 
commitments, we help support new, local, and primarily solar 
PV and wind projects in line with our renewable energy–
sourcing standards. 
To cover any gaps in our renewable energy needs beyond 
what’s provided by Apple-created projects (about 4.5 percent 
of our total corporate load in fiscal year 2021), we directly 
purchase renewable electricity through available utility green 
energy programs. Colocation facility vendors also supply 
about 3.5 percent of our total load of renewable energy. 
And in certain situations, we purchase RECs — for example, 
when we need to cover usage over the short term, before a 
renewable energy project comes online or when there’s a lack 
of availability of renewable energy projects in-region. These 
RECs, which account for about 2 percent of our total load, must 
be tied to recently constructed projects, be Green-e Energy 
certified, where available, and share the same power grid as 
the Apple facility they support. These purchases are subject 
to the same standards as our Apple‑created renewables. 
Appendix C provides additional details on Apple’s renewable 
energy solutions.
Supporting social impact
Power for ImpactTM, the program we launched in 2019, 
continues to provide local communities with needed energy 
resources. With funding from Apple, local communities and 
organizations gain access to cost‑effective energy. At the 
same time, Apple retains the projects’ environmental attributes, 
benefiting the community, our company, and the environment. 
Apple is currently supporting 10 renewable electricity projects 
around the world, including in the Philippines, Thailand, and 
South Africa. For more information, read more about Power for 
Impact on page 27.
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Advancing renewable electricity through innovation
We’ve continued to pursue innovations in how we create and 
use renewable electricity, including through investments in 
energy storage. 
In fiscal year 2021, a Denmark-based wind energy project 
that Apple had supported became operational. It features two 
200-meter-tall turbines, the world’s largest, that are expected 
to produce 62 gigawatt-hours each year — enough to power 
almost 20,000 homes. The power produced onsite will support 
Apple’s data center in Viborg, with all surplus energy going 
into the Danish grid. The project will also act as a test site for 
powerful offshore wind turbines. Apple’s long-term virtual 
power purchase agreement provides the revenue certainty  
that made the project financially feasible.
To help address the intermittency in renewable electricity 
production, we’ve invested in utility-scale storage in California 
and in research on new energy storage technologies. The 
California storage project — an industry-leading grid-scale 
energy storage project capable of storing 240 megawatt-hours 
of electricity — came online in fiscal year 2021. This project 
supports our 130-megawatt California Flats solar farm that 
provides all of our renewable energy in California, by storing 
excess energy generated during the day and deploying it when 
it is most needed.
We’re also continuing to support biological methanation 
research at Aarhus University, Denmark, which explores the 
production of synthetic methane for storage in the existing 
gas grid. In this process, bacteria consumes both hydrogen 
produced from excess renewable energy and captured carbon 
dioxide to produce methane, the principal component of 
natural gas. Methane produced from renewables is a versatile 
energy carrier that can be used as a fuel source in households, 
industry, and transportation. 
Apple helped create a new utility-scale battery storage project that supports the 130-megawatt California Flats solar farm, which provides renewable energy for our 
California facilities. 
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Transitioning our suppliers to 
renewable electricity
Electricity usage in our supply chain is the single greatest 
contributor to our carbon emissions. That’s why our efforts to 
facilitate the transition of our entire supply chain to renewable 
electricity are essential to reaching our 2030 goal of carbon 
neutrality. While this is a global issue, the impacts are 
experienced locally. Bringing renewable energy online with 
our suppliers and displacing fossil fuels helps decarbonize 
power grids and improve local air quality. This work presents 
challenges: technical and regulatory barriers, capital 
requirements, and lack of awareness on where to find and 
access high-quality and cost-effective solutions. 
We continue to experience tremendous progress toward  
our goal of transitioning our manufacturing supply chain to 
100 percent renewable electricity by 2030. As of March 2022, 
213 manufacturing partners in 25 countries have committed 
to 100 percent renewable energy for Apple production. We’ve 
targeted carbon-intensive suppliers or those that represent 
a large portion of Apple’s direct spend with suppliers. But 
the platform we’ve built can support suppliers of any size. To 
that end, both large and small suppliers have committed to 
100 percent renewable electricity for Apple production. Over 
70 percent of companies on Apple’s Supplier List — those 
suppliers that make up 98 percent of Apple’s direct spend 
for materials, manufacturing, and assembly of our products 
worldwide — have committed to 100 percent renewable 
electricity. In addition, many other smaller suppliers have 
also made these commitments. In total, the Supplier Clean 
Energy Program now has almost 16 gigawatts of clean energy 
commitments, of which nearly two-thirds is already operational.
To cover emissions even further upstream, we have already 
invested directly in nearly 500 megawatts of solar and wind 
projects in China and Japan — and we plan to continue 
to invest in renewable energy projects to cover the load of 
suppliers we cannot reach directly. Beyond 2030, we believe 
that even our upstream suppliers will be in a position to 
transition to renewable electricity.
In fiscal year 2021, the 10.3 gigawatts of renewable energy 
already online in Apple’s supply chain generated 18.1 million 
megawatt-hours of clean energy, avoiding 13.9 million metric 
tons of carbon emissions — a 62 percent increase over fiscal 
year 2020.17
Supply chain clean energy progress
Renewable electricity operational and committed in gigawatts (GW)
 	Operational
 	Committed
FY16
FY17
FY18
FY19
FY20
FY21
In the past year,  
In the past year,  
together with our 
together with our 
suppliers, we’ve more 
suppliers, we’ve more 
than 
than doubled
doubled the 
 the 
amount of renewable 
amount of renewable 
electricity online in our 
electricity online in our 
supply chain. 
supply chain. 
Gigawatts
4
8
16
12
For more information 
about which suppliers 
have joined Apple in 
transitioning to 100% 
clean energy, read our 
2022 Supplier Clean 
Energy Update (PDF).
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Our Supplier Energy Efficiency and Supplier Clean Energy 
Programs work hand in hand to reduce the energy used in 
our supply chain and help transition the remaining electricity 
to renewable sources. We measure progress and account 
for emissions generated in our supply chain as part of our 
carbon footprint. But we also know that we can achieve even 
more significant climate impact by providing a model for other 
companies to follow with their suppliers, helping to reduce 
emissions beyond our industry.
Our experience in transitioning our facilities to 100 percent 
renewable electricity gives us knowledge we can share. 
And we help break down barriers through engagement, 
innovative funding structures, and advocacy of clean energy–
friendly policies.
Galvanizing internal champions 
Apple employees are passionate about the environment and 
driven to help meet our 2030 carbon neutrality goal. We’re 
empowering supplier-facing employees with the tools they 
need to support this goal and speed a supplier’s transition 
to renewable electricity. It starts with data and transparency. 
We track the progress of our suppliers, including those just 
beginning to learn about renewable electricity and others that 
are well on their way to using 100 percent renewable electricity. 
We’ve also created internal trainings and crafted a simple 
engagement process, backed by resources for both Apple 
employees and our suppliers. By connecting our suppliers with 
resources and providing transparency on supplier progress, our 
teams are scaling impact across our supply chain.
Supporting supplier capacity
We share the experience gained through our transition to 
100 percent renewable electricity with our suppliers. We 
introduce suppliers to resources and training materials with 
country-specific information to guide them in their transition 
to renewables. These tools are available through our Supplier 
Clean Energy Portal. We also educate suppliers through 
advanced and customized trainings with leading experts. 
And we support the creation and growth of renewable energy 
industry associations that our suppliers can join to learn about 
local opportunities.
New clean energy commitments from suppliers help support Apple’s goal to be carbon neutral for its supply chain and products by 2030. Corning 
Incorporated utilizes clean power from Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions’ Conetoe, North Carolina, solar installation as part of its commitment to 
power its Apple operations with 100 percent renewable electricity.
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Long-standing energy structures can make it difficult to bring 
new renewable energy online in some regions, prompting 
some of our suppliers to maximize proven renewable energy 
solutions — like onsite solar installations. Others have 
leveraged new purchasing methods, created renewable energy 
businesses, or even participated in some of the world’s largest 
and most innovative renewable energy deals.
Expanding access to renewable electricity
The transition to renewables means helping our suppliers find 
energy solutions and make the right investments to address 
their specific needs. When we face barriers to accessing cost-
effective clean energy, we innovate. One such innovation, the 
China Clean Energy Fund, enables Apple and our suppliers to 
invest in clean energy. As of March 2022, the fund has invested 
in 465 megawatts of renewable electricity projects. We also 
connect suppliers with opportunities to buy renewable energy 
directly from project developers and utilities as those models 
emerge around the globe.
Advocating for policy change
Government policies and rules can present some of the largest 
barriers to transitioning to renewables. We lend our voice 
and stand with other companies and NGOs to break down 
policy barriers to achieve thriving clean energy markets with, 
for example, enhanced grid resiliency and greater energy 
innovation. Across regions where our suppliers operate, we 
engage with policymakers to support renewable energy  
that is cost-effective, accessible to companies, and sourced 
from high-quality projects with a material impact on local 
markets. We recognize that to transition to renewable energy 
effectively, clean energy investments need to make financial 
sense. However, carbon-intensive energy sources, like coal  
and gas, often have an unfair price advantage because of 
explicit subsidies and the ignored costs of externalities  
— like air pollution and carbon emissions. So we are 
encouraging governments not to subsidize or expand 
carbon-intensive infrastructure that will inhibit competition 
and discourage the development of new technologies like 
renewable energy and advanced energy storage technologies. 
We’re particularly focused on encouraging clean energy 
policies in countries where we and our suppliers operate. 
In Vietnam, we continue to encourage the government to 
adopt ambitious targets for renewable energy development 
in Power Development Plan 8, and to enshrine net zero goals 
announced by the government into national legislation. We 
support a timely rollout of a cost-competitive direct power 
purchase agreement (DPPA) pilot program there. We’ve also 
supported policies in South Korea to develop renewable 
corporate procurement options such as power purchase 
agreements (PPA), green pricing auctions, and RECs that 
will be impactful and cost-effective. In Japan, we continue to 
support expansion of corporate procurement options such as 
more cost-competitive offsite PPAs, development of a virtual 
PPA system, as well as improved transparency and corporate 
access to procure Non-Fossil Certificates. We’ve also called for 
enhanced climate ambition and renewable energy deployment 
in the nation’s Basic Energy Plan and Nationally Determined 
Contribution (Japan’s plan to reduce emissions in furtherance 
of the Paris Agreement), and for decarbonization policies to 
prioritize support for new technologies that can fully account 
for reducing emissions across their life cycle.
Product use
The electricity our customers use to charge their Apple devices 
represents 22 percent of Apple’s gross carbon footprint. While 
increased energy efficiency helps drive down emissions from 
product use, we are also developing a strategy to address the 
emissions that remain. 
When Apple committed to running our business on  
100 percent renewable electricity in 2013 — a goal we met for 
our facilities in 2018 — we were early leaders in this transition 
to renewable energy. Over the last decade, as more companies 
have adopted 100 percent renewable electricity targets aimed 
at matching the electricity used with the renewable energy 
generated on an annual basis, it has become increasingly 
clear that not all renewable electricity is created equal from a 
carbon reduction and social impact standpoint. As we address 
emissions tied to the electricity our products use globally, our 
guiding principles focus on (1) exploring innovative solutions 
to minimize carbon emissions from product use, including 
energy efficiency; (2) building renewable energy projects 
aimed at maximizing carbon reductions and social impact; 
and (3) engaging with our customers to educate and provide 
opportunities to support the decarbonization of the grid. 
We are continuing to develop our strategy and we will provide 
updates on our progress.
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Access to clean energy sources not 
only benefits the climate, it can create 
opportunities within communities. This 
is the idea driving Power for Impact, 
an initiative we launched in 2019 to 
provide under-resourced communities 
with renewable power while supporting 
economic growth and social impact. 
The program funds mutually beneficial clean energy projects, 
giving local communities and organizations access to 
cost‑effective energy while Apple retains the environmental 
attributes of each project.
Apple is supporting 10 new renewable projects around the 
world through its Power for Impact program:
Colombia: Apple is helping to bring online a rooftop solar 
power system at the Santa Ana Hospital Infantil. The money 
saved on energy bills will allow the hospital to purchase more 
equipment and medications. A rooftop solar installation at 
Ciudad Don Bosco, a nonprofit that provides educational and 
social services for under-resourced youth, will help the group 
advance its sustainable development goals.
Israel: Apple is supporting the Nitzana Educational Eco-
Village, a community for at-risk youth, with solar installations 
to help lower electricity costs. The savings will help enhance 
educational experiences for youth from various backgrounds. 
Nigeria: Apple will support the development of a solar power 
system to serve a primary healthcare center in the state of 
Ondo, as well as 200 households in the surrounding region.
Philippines: Apple will help fund an educational institution 
that provides scholarships to high-achieving, under-resourced 
students by offsetting electricity expenses through a new 
rooftop solar installation in Central Luzon.
South Africa: Apple is bringing electricity to over 3500 
households that previously lacked access. The company will 
also help reduce electricity costs for the Pioneer School for the 
Visually Impaired by funding rooftop solar installations at three 
schools across South Africa.
Power  
for Impact
Thailand: Apple is participating in an effort to replace the use 
of polluting diesel fuel for a remote fishing village that relies 
on refrigerators to maintain the quality of its fish products. We 
are increasing local renewable energy production and battery 
storage to help ensure reliable access to electricity.
United States: Apple is working with the Oceti Sakowin 
Power Authority, formed by six Sioux tribes to jointly develop 
tribal renewable energy resources by financing, developing, 
constructing, and operating power generation and 
transmission facilities for the wholesale market. This project is 
on track to create a large-scale wind power development in 
the Midwest. 
Vietnam: Apple will provide solar electricity for 20 schools 
around the country, and help teach thousands of children 
about sustainable development and STEM.
Power for Impact is expanding access to clean, affordable 
power in different parts of the world. Apple will continue 
to focus on uplifting communities as it pursues its 
environmental goals.
In South Africa, new solar installations are bringing 3500 households access to electricity, 
as well as employment.
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Direct emissions 
abatement
Some materials that are integral to our 
products result in significant emissions. 
The same is true for certain manufacturing 
processes and the transportation of our 
products. To address these emissions we 
seek technological solutions, as well as 
emissions abatement, and switching to 
low-carbon fuels or modes of transport.
Rethinking how aluminum is made
In May 2018, Apple partnered with aluminum companies and 
the governments of Canada and Quebec to invest in Elysis 
— a joint venture to commercialize patented technology that 
eliminates direct greenhouse gas emissions from the traditional 
smelting process. This is a revolutionary advancement in the 
manufacturing of one of the world’s most widely used metals. 
As part of Apple’s commitment to reducing the environmental 
impact of our products through innovation, we helped 
accelerate the development of this technology — by facilitating 
the joint partnership and providing initial funding and ongoing 
technical support. In spring 2022, Elysis announced it had 
built out a commercial-scale prototype within its R&D center 
in Quebec — enabling Elysis to begin producing commercial- 
purity primary aluminum at scale. This milestone for the 
project prompted Apple to make an additional purchase of 
the aluminum, with plans to use it for iPhone SE. In 2019, 
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.18
Addressing fluorinated greenhouse 
gas emissions 
Many components essential to products like ours, including 
integrated circuit chips and display panels, currently rely on 
manufacturing processes that use fluorinated gases. We’re 
partnering closely with key manufacturers to prevent these 
gases from being released into the atmosphere, where they 
have high global warming potential. First, we encourage 
suppliers to optimize manufacturing processes — reducing the 
use of fluorinated greenhouse gases. Then we ask suppliers 
to deploy abatement technologies — curtailing the release of 
emissions from the gases that remain.
Transporting products
Each year, we ship hundreds of millions of products from our 
manufacturers to our consumers. We’re shifting whenever 
possible toward less carbon-intensive shipping modes, such 
as rail and ocean. And we’re seeking out technical innovations, 
including alternative fuels and electric vehicles. In fiscal year 
2021, Apple avoided 180,000 metric tons of CO2e by shifting 
the mode of transport and reducing product weight through 
the removal of the power adapter from iPhone devices. 
In Europe, we’re working with carriers who are advancing 
“carbon neutral delivery” using electric vehicles, including 
e-bikes and e-cars. These innovations help reduce our 
impact in the communities where our customers purchase 
our products. And by preferring vendors that offer low-carbon 
options, we signal the value of these options to us and reward 
those driving decarbonization in their industry. 
At COP26, Apple joined the “First Movers Coalition,”  
a partnership between the World Economic Forum and the 
U.S. Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate to 
maintain our commitment to becoming a carbon-neutral 
company by 2030. The First Movers Coalition is a new platform 
for companies to harness their purchasing power and supply 
chains to create early markets for innovative clean energy 
technologies that are key for tackling the climate crisis — with 
a focus on sectors central to global decarbonization efforts, 
including aviation. 
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The focus of our 2030 Climate Roadmap 
is to reduce our emissions by 75 percent 
compared with 2015 levels. In addition, 
we will need to scale up carbon removal 
strategies to address the emissions that 
we can’t yet avoid. This is consistent with 
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 
Change, which notes that all pathways 
limiting warming to 1.5°C require carbon 
removal for unavoidable emissions.19 
Carbon removal projects take carbon dioxide out of the 
atmosphere and store it in long-term carbon sinks — whether 
natural, like forests, wetlands, and grasslands, or geological, in 
formations such as saline aquifers or other suitable geological 
sites. We are exploring a range of carbon removal solutions to 
meet our 2030 carbon neutrality goal. In addition to removing 
carbon, nature-based carbon removal projects also offer 
important ecological and social benefits, such as preserving 
biodiversity and enhancing the resilience of ecosystems, while 
often providing economic development opportunities for 
local communities.
We’re investing in nature
The earth’s trees, plants, and soils provide some of the 
greatest capabilities to remove carbon from the atmosphere. 
Carbon credits provide an opportunity to invest in these 
solutions, but carbon markets have not yet scaled to meet 
the recent increases in demand for these credits. That’s why 
we are expanding nature-based investments to support our 
goal of achieving carbon neutrality across our full product 
life cycle by 2030. By investing in forests, grasslands, and 
wetlands, we support proven, scalable approaches to carbon 
removal — while supporting ecosystems and the livelihoods of 
local communities.
We believe that this can be done while achieving a financial 
and environmental return on our investment. That is why we 
partnered with Conservation International and Goldman Sachs 
to launch the Restore Fund. This innovative fund seeks to blend 
responsible forestry practices with carbon removal: We’re 
working with forestry managers to create sustainably managed 
forests that optimize for both carbon and wood production, 
creating revenue from timber, and generating high-quality 
carbon credits. Apple will invest up to $200 million in projects 
that aim to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it, 
all while meeting clear social and environmental impact criteria 
and offering a financial return. In its pilot phase, the Restore 
Fund has a goal of removing at least 1 million metric tons of 
carbon dioxide per year.
Since announcing the Restore Fund, together with 
Conservation International and Goldman Sachs, we have 
screened over a hundred projects to identify those with the 
most potential for restoration that also relieve pressure on 
existing natural forests. The projects we’ve identified seek to 
maximize environmental impact, including carbon, hydrology, 
and habitat restoration. We’ve also established strong 
relationships with forestry managers working on sustainable 
forestry around the world, who will be responsible for managing 
the projects. Finally, we’re exploring innovative approaches to 
track the progress of our projects, such as the use of satellites 
to measure and verify the carbon removal impacts of the 
Restore Fund. And we work with independent auditors to help 
ensure the integrity of these projects.
The projects in the Restore Fund will align with international 
standards developed by organizations such as the Verified 
Carbon Standard (VCS), the Climate, Community & Biodiversity 
Standard (CCBS), and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). 
Use of these international standards help ensure that the 
carbon stored in forests is being measured and reported to the 
highest standards, and that projects have the most up-to-date 
safeguards in place to mitigate risks to project performance. 
The projects we select will also have a meaningful positive 
impact on the livelihoods of local communities by bringing 
economic opportunities to often underserved rural economies. 
We will continue to focus on projects that protect lands with 
high conservation values.
By 2030, we aim to use initiatives like the Restore Fund to 
remove enough carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to cover 
the direct emissions across our value chain that we’re unable 
to avoid directly. This fund is unique because it aims to change 
carbon removal from a cost to a profitable investment. By 
creating a fund that generates both a financial return as well as 
real and measurable carbon impact, we aim to drive broader 
change in the future — encouraging capital investment in 
carbon removal around the globe.
1M
The Apple Restore  
Fund aims to remove 
over 1 million metric 
tons of carbon per year 
by investing in nature-
based solutions.
Carbon removal
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High-quality carbon offsets  
as an interim solution
We plan to reach our goal of becoming carbon neutral across 
our entire value chain by 2030, using every solution at our 
disposal, including long-term carbon removal initiatives, like 
the Restore Fund. But as the projects in the Restore Fund 
come online, we’re also working to address difficult-to-avoid 
emissions in the short term. 
Since April 2020 we have been carbon neutral for our 
corporate emissions. We started by reducing our corporate 
emissions through the use of 100 percent renewable  
electricity and energy efficiency efforts at our facilities. 
However, there are some activities where emissions remain 
difficult to avoid — including the use of natural gas in some 
of our buildings or the emissions from business air travel and 
employee commute. As the Restore Fund projects come online, 
we’ve partnered with Conservation International to develop 
and invest in projects that generate carbon credits to cover 
our remaining corporate emissions. These projects include the 
protection and restoration of a 27,000-acre mangrove forest in 
Colombia, which is expected to sequester 1 million metric tons 
of CO2 over the project’s lifetime; the restoration of degraded 
savannas in the Chyulu Hills region of Kenya; and through 
investment in a “micro-forestry” company that partners with 
and empowers tens of thousands of marginalized farmers 
to earn a living from sustainable tree farming. We retired 
167,000 metric tons of carbon credits from the Chyulu Hills 
project in Kenya to maintain carbon neutrality for our corporate 
emissions in fiscal year 2021.
While we did more than ever to reduce our emissions from 
our product life cycle in fiscal year 2021, our business also 
performed well, resulting in a small increase in our carbon 
footprint. To make up for the increase in direct emissions,  
we retired credits from the Chyulu Hills project described 
above, and purchased carbon credits from two additional 
projects to offset a total of 500,000 metric tons of direct 
emissions across our value chain. The first project, a REDD+ 
coastal conservation project in Guatemala, protects and 
conserves forests from deforestation and degradation. The 
second project aims to establish forests on about 46,000 
hectares of barren land that is not otherwise in use across 
seven counties in the Guizhou Province of China. Both projects 
are certified to the same high standards that we require for 
projects in the Restore Fund, including VCS and CCBS.
We’re protecting and restoring 27,000 acres of mangrove forests in Colombia. Mangroves play an 
important role in removing carbon from the atmosphere, as they can store up to ten times more 
carbon per acre than a typical terrestrial forest.
Learn more about 
the nature-based 
solutions in Kenya and 
Colombia that we’ve 
developed in partnership 
with Conservation 
International.
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“We’re determined to do our part to fight 
climate change & believe transparency 
is an important part of this. Apple has 
publicly disclosed our greenhouse gas 
emissions for a decade, and we believe 
other companies should do the same,” 
wrote Lisa P. Jackson, vice president of 
Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives 
at Apple, in a tweet on April 13, 2021. 
This 38-word tweet marked a milestone with a large, public 
U.S. company calling for mandatory disclosures of global 
greenhouse gases across all emissions scopes. The statement 
also focused the discussion within industry and government 
toward greater transparency, and increased attention 
by regulators. 
In May, Apple also became the first company to voice support 
for the enactment of the Clean Energy Standard (CES) that 
would decarbonize the power grid by 2035. In a discussion 
with Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, Jackson stressed 
that the opportunities that come with decarbonization must 
be inclusive: “Government has to lead here when it comes to 
making sure that there’s economic equity in the policies that 
are being promoted.”
And at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties 
(COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2021, Apple called for bold 
government action on climate change, joining several new 
initiatives, including the First Movers Coalition, the Forest 
Investor Club, and the Clean Energy Demand Initiative.
Advocating for strong 
climate policies 
Apple’s climate policy advocacy centers on the following 
principles, each of which governs Apple’s public policy 
positions on climate: 
Set strong targets based on science 
Policymakers should set national or regional targets that 
seek to limit warming to no more than 1.5°C. These goals 
need to include interim targets and mechanisms to enforce 
short-term accountability. To meet these targets requires 
a price on carbon and parallel participation in international 
policy negotiation.
Disclose comprehensive emissions  
Measurement and disclosure are essential tools to reduce 
emissions. Rules governing the release of information 
covering all scopes of emissions, direct and indirect, across 
the value chain will help establish best practices and 
promote competition.
Create sector-specific policies 
Limiting warming to 1.5°C is a goal that requires actions across 
the entire economy. Policies need to address sector-specific 
needs and facilitate the transition to decarbonize industries 
where there are challenges or there is a need for infrastructure 
to support the goal.
Support a green economy for all  
Climate policies should support the development of the new 
green economy, with job opportunities focused on advancing 
clean innovation. Equity should be a guiding principle of 
policies supporting this economy. Communities that have been 
disproportionately impacted by climate change should benefit 
from the economic opportunities of potential solutions.
Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, Lisa Jackson, alongside President Joe Biden and other leaders 
from around the world at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Photo credit: World Economic Forum.
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iPhone has guts
RECYCLED
Introduction    Climate Change    Resources    Smarter Chemistry    Engagement    Appendix
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Resources

Use only recycled and renewable  
materials in our products and packaging,  
and enhance material recovery
Eliminate plastics in  
our packaging by 2025
8 products  
released in fiscal  
year 2021 with   
20 percent or more 
recycled content
Our newest  
recycling 
machine, Taz,  
brings shredding  
to a new level
We’re committed to making the most of the resources we use. This commitment includes 
our goal to one day make our products using only recycled and renewable materials, 
while we continue to source materials responsibly, whether from primary, recycled, or 
renewable sources. And the innovations we’re pursuing to build long-lasting products 
and create improved recycling technologies play an important role. Each of these efforts 
helps conserve the earth’s finite resources. And they also support our objective to achieve 
carbon neutrality by 2030, by helping reduce the carbon footprint of our products.
In fiscal year 2021,  
we more than doubled 
our use of recycled 
tungsten, rare earth 
elements, and cobalt 
— and introduced 
certified recycled gold 
for the first time in an 
Apple product
Goals and 
progress
No outer  
plastic wrap was 
used in iPhone 
13 packaging
75% less plastic 
in packaging used 
across product lines 
compared with 2015
Our Prineville data center and  
17 supplier facilities have been  
certified by Alliance for Water  
Stewardship for leading  water 
management practices
Reduce water impacts  
in the manufacturing  
of our products, use  
of our services, and  
operation of our facilities
All established final assembly 
and  sub-assembly sites for 
Apple Watch Series 7 send 
zero waste to landfill1
Eliminate waste 
sent to landfill  
from our corporate 
facilities and our 
suppliers
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Natural resources make our work possible 
— and we take responsibility for how we 
source, use, and recycle the materials 
we rely on to create our products. As 
a starting point, this means sourcing 
responsibly, minimizing our freshwater 
use, and eliminating waste across our 
operations and those of our suppliers.  
But we’re also seeking to redefine the 
overall resource footprint of our products. 
This requires broader engagement, 
through collaborations enabling the 
stewardship of shared resources.
Our goal is to one day make products using only responsibly 
sourced recycled and renewable materials. We aim to build 
durable, long-lasting products that make the best use of  
the resources required to make them. And, in collaboration  
with leading recyclers, we’re developing recycling strategies  
of the future for the end of each product’s life. Through  
these engagements, we can support research and take on 
industry-wide challenges.
Water is a vital resource that we rely on to manufacture 
products and run our offices, data centers, and stores. We take 
our stewardship responsibilities seriously in each community 
where we operate. This begins with optimizing how we use 
water, leveraging alternative and recycled sources of water, 
and managing our discharge responsibly. But our efforts go a 
step further. We’re focused on working collectively with other 
companies, NGOs, and local governments to improve the 
health of the water basins, extending our efforts miles beyond 
our suppliers’ facilities.
We’re working to eliminate landfill waste. Reducing waste and 
increasing reuse and recycling is vital to conserve the world’s 
resources. We aim to leave no waste behind in the communities 
in which we and our suppliers work, and to reduce the 
flow of waste to communities around the world that have 
disproportionately borne the burdens of waste disposal. Our 
progress is measured in how we decrease the amount of waste 
we create, innovate opportunities for reuse, and open up new 
opportunities to recycle in partnership with local businesses. 
Progress on all of our goals relies on collaborative efforts. 
Through direct engagement with suppliers, NGOs, recyclers, 
community stakeholders, and other innovators, we can 
advance — and reduce our carbon and material footprint by 
doing more with less.
Our approach
Within resources, we focus  
on three main areas of impact 
Materials
Transitioning to only recycled or renewable materials in our products 
and packaging, and maximizing material efficiency, product longevity, 
and recovery. 
Zero waste
Minimizing overall waste generated and eliminating waste sent to landfill 
from our manufacturing supply chain as well as corporate offices, data 
centers, and retail stores.
Water
Reducing water impacts in the manufacturing of our products, use of our 
services, and operation of our facilities. At the same time, transitioning 
to alternative sources, improving the quality of water we discharge, and 
protecting shared water resources. 
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Materials
How we pursue circularity for our products
Collect and 
recover  
materials for use in  
new products
Design  
products with recycled 
and renewable content
Make products 
efficiently  
and recover in-process 
manufacturing scrap
Keep our products  
in use by building  
to last, repairing 
and refurbishing
We aim to have our products be part 
of thriving, responsible, circular supply 
chains — where finite material extraction 
is replaced by continual recycling and 
reuse. We’re increasingly sourcing more 
of the materials we use from circular 
supply chains drawn from recycled 
content and renewable resources.
Our goal is to one day achieve independence from mined 
resources. Extracting materials continuously from the earth 
is a carbon-intensive process and can have an impact in 
the regions from which these resources are derived. We’re 
making progress toward this goal with each generation of new 
products — and we’re doing so without sacrificing quality 
and durability. We’re also pursuing innovations in recycling to 
enhance material recovery and support circular supply chains 
for ourselves and others.
This goal represents a significant challenge and a great 
opportunity to reduce our footprint. We see this with each 
change we make, whether a technological innovation or new 
supply chain. These developments affect the people who 
interact with our products, influence the markets in which we 
operate, and create change for broader global communities. 
And our actions carry results that extend beyond our business.
We’re using three different levers to reduce our footprint and 
achieve circularity:
Sourcing and efficiency 
Sourcing recycled and renewable materials for our products 
and packaging, and using these materials more efficiently. 
And we source materials responsibly, whether from primary, 
recycled, or renewable sources.
Product longevity  
Making the most of the materials we use by designing long-
lasting products. We design durable hardware, leverage 
software updates to extend functionality, provide convenient 
access to safe and high-quality repair services, and direct 
devices and parts to be refurbished or reused.
Product end-of-life 
Enhancing product collection and recycling innovation, so we 
and others can use old devices as raw material sources for 
the future.
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Apple is committed 
to setting the highest 
standards for responsible 
sourcing of materials 
used in our products. 
For more information, 
read our People and 
Environment in Our 
Supply Chain Progress 
Report and our Conflict 
Minerals Report at  
apple.com/supplier-
responsibility.
We’ve made progress in the past few 
years toward the goal of relying solely on 
recycled and renewable materials for our 
products and our packaging.
This has made it clear to markets that we place a value on the 
source of our materials, particularly those that do not deplete 
the earth’s resources. Many partners have joined us in our 
efforts to move toward recycled and renewable content  
— and we look forward to engaging with many others as part 
of a broader global transition. And as we design new products, 
we continue to source materials responsibly and use materials 
more efficiently. 
Last year, we made progress across materials — from 
expanding our use of recycled rare earth elements to 
designing cameras with recycled gold. In September, we 
introduced iPhone 13, with more certified recycled materials 
than any previous version of iPhone. This included recycled 
rare earth elements, tin, tungsten, aluminum, and for the first 
time, certified recycled gold. We also introduced 100 percent 
recycled plastic in the mesh of the ear cushions of AirPods 
Max, as well as 100 percent recycled aluminum enclosures on 
every single model in the iPad lineup. 
Across our business, we released eight products with more 
than 20 percent recycled content.2 The MacBook Air with M1 
chip (2020) had the highest total — made with 44 percent 
recycled content device-wide, including 100 percent recycled 
aluminum in the enclosure. These and other innovations 
helped us increase our use of recycled or renewable content 
to 18 percent of all the material shipped in products in 
fiscal year 2021.3 Suppliers have not only confirmed they 
sourced recycled material, but have also achieved third-party 
certification for more than half of this content, engaging 
organizations including UL LLC.
The amount of recycled material in our products is just one 
measure of our progress. We have prioritized 14 materials, 
evaluating their environmental, social, and supply impacts 
outlined in their Material Impact Profiles — including 
biodiversity factors. Some of the materials prioritized through 
this process include lower-mass but higher-impact materials. 
But by considering broader impacts, we know our efforts are 
going to the greatest benefit for the world. (See page 39 for the 
full list of our priority materials.)
As we source these priority materials, the lack of readily 
available recycled and renewable options presents a key 
obstacle. Apple teams are doing the work required to make this 
transition — seeking out sources of recycled and renewable 
content, building new supply chains, and enhancing industry 
transparency and traceability. 
And our teams, in collaboration with many diverse partners, 
are overcoming numerous challenges. Material performance 
is one example of this. With aluminum, we designed a new 
alloy that could incorporate recycled content and still meet our 
high performance standards. Traceability, the ability to trace 
materials back to their source, represents another challenge. 
For iPhone 13, we built our first exclusively recycled gold  
supply chain, which incorporated end-to-end traceability  
— unprecedented in the industry — allowing us to determine 
that only materials from recycled sources entered the supply 
chain. This effort allowed us to use 100 percent certified 
recycled gold in select components of iPhone for the first time.
Some of the barriers we face are within our control, but 
others are further outside of Apple’s direct control and require 
collective action. When we work collaboratively with those 
in the material space to overcome these, the effects can be 
felt beyond our business. We’re helping create supply chains 
to serve not only our footprint. We’re working to promote the 
availability of quality materials across geographies, ideally at a 
competitive cost.
Sourcing  
and efficiency
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As we work, we continue to uphold high standards. Our 
recycled and renewable material specifications follow 
standards set out by the international community. To ensure 
that these materials meet our standards, we require our 
suppliers to obtain third-party certifications.4 This measure 
helps us confirm that a material has been recycled or comes 
from a renewable source — one that can continually produce 
without depleting the earth’s resources.5 As we introduce 
materials from new sources, we continue to evaluate each for 
its chemical safety. Through this process we’re able to scale 
our use of materials that are better for the environment, while 
ensuring that they are also safe for use in our products. 
This diligence carries over to sourcing. We obtain our resources 
responsibly, regardless of whether we are using primary or 
recycled materials. This approach is a necessary complement 
to our environmental efforts — and it draws from the same 
reliance on international standards. Our Responsible Sourcing 
Standards are based on leading international guidance, 
including the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business 
and Human Rights and the Organisation for Economic  
Co-operation and Development (OECD) due diligence 
guidance. In 2021, 100 percent of the identified tin, tantalum, 
tungsten, gold, cobalt, and lithium smelters and refiners in 
Apple’s supply chain participated in an independent third-
party audit program. These audits are designed to assess and 
identify a broad range of risks, including social, environmental, 
human rights, and governance risks. We also continue to map, 
conduct additional due diligence, and facilitate independent 
third-party audits on other materials used in our products, 
such as graphite, nickel, and copper. As we build supply chains 
for recycled materials, we’re partnering with the smelters and 
refiners identified through this process, as well. 
Since iPhone 12, we’ve been making our Taptic Engines with 100 percent recycled tungsten.
We continue to engage with multiple industry initiatives as 
we focus on responsible sourcing and recycled content. For 
example, Apple serves on the steering committee of the 
Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) — part of the Responsible 
Business Alliance — which is one of the most utilized resources 
for companies from a range of industries that are working to 
address responsible mineral sourcing issues in their supply 
chains. We also collaborate with the Aluminium Stewardship 
Initiative and other industry organizations working to promote 
transparency across supply chains and establish additional 
auditing and due diligence systems.
Our efforts to use recycled and renewable materials also 
support our climate goals, since our recycled content has 
a lower carbon footprint than primary materials. As we 
make this transition, we’re working with policymakers to 
support international standards that enable the use of these 
materials globally.
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2017 
 
2018 
 
2019
2020
2021
Plastic 
Tin 
Aluminum 
Rare earth  
elements
Gold 
Tungsten* 
iPhone 
iPad
Notebook
Desktop
Apple Watch
iPhone 
iPad
Notebook
Desktop
Apple Watch
iPhone 
iPad
Notebook
Desktop
Apple Watch
iPhone 
iPad
Notebook
Desktop
Apple Watch
iPhone 
iPad
Notebook
Desktop
Apple Watch
Our transition to certified 
recycled materials  
by product line
We’ve expanded use  
of certified recycled 
materials over time
  All products launched in calendar year include certified recycled content
  Some products launched in calendar year include certified recycled content
  No products launched in calendar year include certified recycled content
  Recycled content not applicable*
Products launched by calendar year
*Material is considered “not applicable” as it is found only in small quantities in dispersed module applications.
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Progress across  
our priority materials
In fiscal year 2021, 18 percent of the material we shipped in products came from 
recycled and renewable sources. This milestone is part of our broader strategy 
focusing on 14 materials that account for more than 90 percent of the total product 
mass shipped to our customers. 
We’re making progress in transitioning these materials to recycled and renewable 
sources, while we continue to source materials responsibly. But, as we work, we’re 
encountering challenges in creating circular supply chains.
Technical properties  
The properties of a recycled or 
renewable material may differ from 
the primary material, which needs 
to be accounted for during product 
design. For example, select recycled 
plastics differ in properties from 
other plastics. The composition 
of other recycled materials can 
also be impacted by some level 
of contamination during the 
recycling process.
Availability and access  
Supply of recycled and renewable 
materials can be constrained by 
the limited availability of scrap 
sources or production of renewable 
content. Even when supply exists 
in some locations around the world, 
these new suppliers need to be 
incorporated into supply chains for 
the material to be accessed.
Transparency 
Information about the source  
of materials — whether mined, 
recycled, or renewable — may not  
be readily available.
Scale 
Materials for a single component 
can come from hundreds of different 
material suppliers, representing an 
exponential increase in effort as we 
scale the use of high-quality recycled 
or renewable materials across 
components and products. 
Regulatory barriers 
Transboundary movement 
regulations — originally intended to 
create environmental protections 
— can inhibit the ability to recover 
materials from scrap, end-of-life 
products, and parts for use in new 
products. Read about our support 
of policies that enable movement of 
recovered materials to best-in-class 
recyclers in our feature on resource 
recovery policy.
Key challenges to developing circular supply chains:
How we source materials:
Recycled content  
Certified recycled content is sourced from recycled materials that have  
been independently verified by third parties to a standard that conforms with  
ISO 14021. We also account for recycled content thatʼs confirmed by suppliers, 
but has not yet received third-party verification.
Responsible sourcing
Apple’s Responsible Sourcing of Materials Standard covers all primary and 
recycled materials. Our standard aligns with leading international standards, 
including the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights 
and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developmentʼs Due 
Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-
Affected and High-Risk Areas (OECD Due Diligence Guidance).
Material
Key challenges
Progress
Aluminum
  
Regulatory barriers
Technical properties
Scale
After creating a new aluminum alloy that incorporates recycled content without compromising product performance,  
we’re now scaling recycled content across products. All iPad models in our lineup now use 100 percent recycled aluminum 
in their enclosures — joining Apple Watch Series 7, Apple Watch SE, MacBook Air, Mac mini, and the 14-inch and 16-inch 
MacBook Pro devices. Our iPhone 13 model incorporates recycled aluminum content, as well. Since recycled aluminum  
can have 1/40th the carbon footprint of aluminum from primary sources, this supports our pursuit of low-carbon designs.6  
Overall in fiscal year 2021, 59 percent of the aluminum we shipped came from recycled sources, more than half of which 
was third-party certified. Our recycled material comes from several sources, including scrap from the manufacture of 
Apple products, and post-industrial sources. And as our supplier source recycled content, we encourage them to take the 
additional step to pursue third-party certifications for their recycled content.
Cobalt
  
 
Regulatory barriers 
Availability and access
Scale
In the fiscal year, 13 percent of the cobalt shipped in our products came from certified recycled sources on a mass-balance 
basis, including both post-industrial scrap and post-consumer scrap from end-of-life batteries. The cobalt from iPhone 
batteries disassembled by Daisy is being returned to the market. This more efficient and economical approach makes the 
material available to others beyond our supply chain.
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Material
Key challenges
Progress
Copper
  
 
Technical properties
Supply chains 
Scale
Electronics applications require the use of high-performance copper. Yet even as challenges remain in identifying quality 
scrap sources, we are making progress. In March 2022, we introduced 100 percent recycled copper for the first time in 
any Apple product: Apple Studio Display and Mac Studio both use 100 percent recycled copper in the brass prongs of 
the power cord plug and AC inlet.7 We also continue testing 100 percent recycled copper in other applications to evaluate 
its technical properties and performance across product lines. In our printed circuit boards (PCBs) — another key use of 
copper — we’re driving material efficiency by using foils that require less of the material and incorporating recycled copper, 
primarily from old power line cables. We’re working to apply this same approach to other modules.
Glass
  
 
Technical properties 
Availability and access
Scale
Recycled sources are scarce for the quality of glass we use in our products — and performance of this material is key to 
the durability of our final products. We’re working hard to identify and incorporate recycled content into the material we use 
to produce glass parts. Following the precedent set in iPhone 12, the iPhone 13 continues to use recycled glass in multiple 
components. And by incorporating quality scrap in our applications, we also help keep glass at its highest-purity use for 
future recovery. As we collect and reuse scrap in new parts, we’re also more efficient in how we use the material.
Gold
  
 
Regulatory barriers 
Transparency
For the first time on any Apple product, iPhone 13 used 100 percent certified recycled gold, found in the plating of the main 
logic board and the wire in the front camera and the rear cameras. To obtain this from entirely recycled sources required 
pioneering industry-leading levels of traceability to build a gold supply chain of exclusively recycled content. Gold as a 
material is often recovered and recycled; as a result, gold from primary and secondary sources is often commingled. So it 
was only through this level of traceability that we could certify that our material came from 100 percent recycled sources. 
We’ve shown this is possible with iPhone 13 and are working to scale our use to other products as well.
Lithium
  
 
Technical properties
Availability and access
Scale
We’re working to shift toward recycled materials recovered from batteries as these options become more viable and 
economical. While we’ve been able to identify sources of recycled content, we’re now working to test the performance of 
the recycled material to see if it can meet our requirements — both at the material level and in its application in batteries. 
This rigorous evaluation process takes time, but it’s key to maintaining the performance of our products as we transition to 
recycled content over the long term. And we’re forging relationships with partners and recyclers capable of bringing more 
of this material into the market.
Paper
 For more information on our progress on paper, see our feature on packaging.
Plastics
  
 
Technical properties
Availability and access
Scale
We use a broad range of plastics in our products — found in hundreds of unique components, from speakers to keycaps. 
Each plastic material has different performance requirements that we must maintain as we switch to recycled or renewable 
sources. We are diligently pursuing this effort. In fiscal year 2021 alone, we introduced more than 100 parts with an average 
of 45 percent recycled plastic. These include the antenna lines on iPhone 13, which use “upcycled” plastic from bottles 
that have been chemically transformed into a stronger, higher-performance material. And 15 additional components 
used plastics made with bio-based content rather than fossil fuels, an important step as we continue to pursue certified 
renewable plastic sources.
Rare earth elements
  
 
Regulatory barriers 
Availability and access
Scale
We’re featuring greater percentages of recycled rare earth element content across our latest devices: 98 percent in iPhone 
13, 99 percent in Apple Watch Series 7, 99 percent in the 24-inch iMac, and 100 percent in AirPods (3rd generation). More 
than 45 percent of the total rare earth elements used in the fiscal year came from certified recycled sources, a significant 
increase since we introduced recycled rare earth elements for the first time in 2019.
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Material
Key challenges
Progress
Steel
  
 
Regulatory barriers 
Technical properties
Since steel is a highly recycled material, we focus on keeping it in the highest-quality form possible, working to make sure 
high-purity steel gets recovered from our manufacturing scrap and our products at end-of-life. We are working with our 
supply chain partners on opportunities to expand the use of recycled content further into components of our products and 
to pursue third-party certifications.
Tantalum
  
 
Regulatory barriers 
Availability and access 
Supply chains
We continue to address the challenge of sourcing 100 percent recycled content at the quality we need for use in 
capacitors. We’re actively investigating recovery approaches from end-of-life electronics to develop further use of this 
recycled material. Based on material recovery rates, there may already be some recycled tantalum within our products. 
However, to reach our goal, we have to move beyond existing tantalum supply chains that mix primary and secondary 
content. This requires starting from the beginning, by identifying new sources of quality tantalum scrap and building 
traceable supply chains around exclusively recycled material so that we can verify its use in high quantities in our products.
Tin
  
 
Regulatory barriers 
Scale
In fiscal year 2021, 30 percent of our tin came from certified recycled sources as we continued to scale our use. All new 
iPhone, iPad, AirPods, and Mac devices released in the fiscal year featured 100 percent recycled tin in the solder of the 
main logic board. We’re also continuing to use recycled tin in our accessories, including our power adapters, the Wireless 
Charging Case for AirPods Pro, and Apple Pencil. And we continue to expand to new components as well, including 
recycled tin in the solder of the True Tone flash of iPad Pro and the battery management unit of iPhone 13. As we scale use 
across even more components, we seek to engage an exponentially increasing number of suppliers in this effort.
Tungsten
  
 
Regulatory barriers 
Technical properties
More than 90 percent of the tungsten used in fiscal year 2021 came from recycled sources, a significant milestone from prior 
years. Both Apple Watch Series 7 and iPhone 13 feature 99 percent recycled tungsten across the entire device. And with the 
help of our disassembly robots, Daisy and Dave, the tungsten from our Taptic Engine can be recovered and recycled.
Zinc
  
 
Technical properties 
Supply chains
We continue to work to identify high-quality sources of recycled zinc. This is a challenge as the material is prone to 
accumulate impurities during the recycling process. Each source we identify we rigorously test to ensure that recycled 
materials meet our high performance standards. In March 2022, we introduced 100 percent recycled zinc for the first time 
in Apple Studio Display and Mac Studio, which use 100 percent recycled zinc in the brass prongs of the power cord plug 
and AC inlet.8 
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We’ve made significant progress toward 
eliminating all plastics from our packaging 
by 2025. 
This past year, plastics accounted for only 4 percent of 
our packaging. Since 2015, we’ve dedicated our efforts to 
replacing large plastic trays, wraps, and foam cushioning 
with fiber alternatives that have higher recovery rates and 
reduced environmental footprints. And we remain focused 
on completing this work. We’ve directed our energies toward 
eliminating the remaining plastic in our packaging.
This year we released iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro — the 
first iPhone to be shipped without any plastic packaging 
components.9 To achieve this, we eliminated the polypropylene 
wrap around each box. We’ve used this plastic wrap since 
the launch of iPhone 8 to protect the box from damage and 
tampering. We wanted to retain the benefits of plastic wrap 
without the environmental impact, while creating a more 
accessible unboxing experience. Our packaging team took 
on the challenge to achieve both. The team conducted user 
studies, assessed the weight and repulpability of materials, 
and prototyped designs. For this year’s iPhone release, they 
developed an alternative that relies on two small fiber-based 
pull-tabs. This replacement of traditional plastic wrap not 
only provides a tamper seal, it allows us to avoid an estimated 
600 metric tons of plastic.
We also made significant improvements on iMac this year. 
Our team worked on an alternative to the plastic foam we 
used to protect each iMac during shipping. Previously, we’d 
designed molded fiber parts to replace foam components in 
the iMac Pro box.10 We set out to create a similar alternative to 
packing foam — one that absorbs energy while maintaining 
resilience and structure. Our solution was to develop a fiber-
based corrugated spring. Using origami-inspired techniques, 
our team created a design that could perform as well as 
traditional foam, yet be more easily recycled. This design relied 
on corrugated cardboard, a widely used packaging material, 
allowing us to work with existing suppliers. Our fiber-based 
corrugated spring is the first such use of this material to replace 
traditional packing foam. Through this innovation, we avoided 
more than 400 metric tons of plastic. 
Innovating packaging  
to reduce our footprint
For the 24-inch iMac, using corrugated fiber rather than foam for shock absorption allowed us to reduce plastic by 72 percent. 
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3	 Plastic packaging components we refer to any packaging part made of majority plastic, including plastic wraps, plastic trays, or plastic screen films. Some plastic is still found on packaging components made 
primarily of fiber.
  4%
  63%
  33%
 Plastic	
 
 Recycled fiber 
 Responsibly sourced virgin fiber**
  14%
  56%
  30%
  8%
  59%
  33%
  10%
  58%
  32%
  6%
  59%
  35%
2017
169,000
2021
257,000
2020
226,000
2019
189,000
2018
187,000
These innovations are part of our broader strategy. We’re both 
seeking to reduce waste by eliminating plastic and focusing 
on recycled and renewable materials in our packaging. 
Apple’s packaging design guidelines also factor in packaging 
recyclability, requiring the use of fiber-based materials that 
can break back down to pulp as part of mixed paper recycling 
streams — alongside materials like cereal boxes.11 These 
guidelines are supported by third-party assessments from 
firms including Western Michigan University’s Paper Pilot Plant 
and the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory, 
and we continue to monitor evolving international packaging 
standards. In fiscal year 2021, all newly released iPhone, iPad, 
Apple Watch, and MacBook devices shipped in packaging 
that was more than 90 percent fiber-based. And we continue 
to supply all of the wood fiber in our packaging from recycled 
or responsible sources.12 This year, we’ve turned our efforts 
toward developing alternatives to foams, films, and wraps. 
We’re doing so to ensure that we have well-designed, lower-
impact alternatives ready for use. We also advocate for action 
to reduce plastics, promote the efficient use of low-impact 
materials, and encourage requirements that consider the entire 
packaging life cycle.
These efforts include our commitment to using responsibly 
sourced wood fiber while, at the same time, contributing to 
the global supply of these responsible materials. Through 
partnerships with The Conservation Fund and World Wildlife 
Fund, we’ve protected and improved more than 1 million acres 
of working forests in the U.S. and China. In fiscal year 2021, 
these forests generated enough responsibly sourced fiber to 
balance all the fiber used in our packaging.13
Packaging fiber and plastic footprint* (metric tons)
Our goal is to eliminate all plastics from our packaging by 2025. In fiscal  
year 2021, only 4 percent of our packaging footprint was from plastic. And  
63 percent came from recycled fiber. Since 2017, 100 percent of the virgin 
wood fiber used in our packaging has come from responsible sources.**
*	 These data include the materials used in our packaging. Fiber used at our corporate facilities represents less than 1 percent of our overall fiber use. Non-fiber, non-plastic 
materials excluded from these totals. Beginning in 2021, we excluded adhesives from our boundary as these are non-fiber, non-plastic materials.
**	 Responsible sourcing of fiber is defined in Apple’s Sustainable Fiber Specification (PDF). 
We’ve reduced plastic 
in our packaging by  
75% since 2015.
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We believe long-lasting products are 
best for the environment. We also believe 
products that minimize the need for repair 
or replacement encourage our customers 
to come back to Apple. We design our 
products with this goal in mind. 
And for those customers who want the latest devices, we 
help them unlock the value of their current device through 
Apple Trade In or third-party trade-in platforms. This not only 
makes a subsequent purchase more affordable, it enables 
a new customer to experience Apple products and services 
and keeps a product in use as long as possible. With more 
customers able to access Apple products and services, this 
approach is not only good for the planet, it’s good for business.
A product designed for longevity will hold its value longer, 
benefiting our customers. iPhone, for example, retains value 
longer than any other smartphone. The iPhone depreciation 
rate is the lowest among the nine leading smartphone 
manufacturers, according to a study published last year by 
BankMyCell, a website that tracks trade-in and sale value 
of technology products.14 As of January 2022, iPhone 6s, 
introduced in 2015, still had monetary value for Trade In in the 
United States.15
These results reflect our commitment to provide long-lasting 
devices, as well as our collective, ongoing effort to improve the 
longevity of our products. We’ve approached this by designing 
durable hardware, developing access to safe and convenient 
repair services that meet our customers’ needs, and providing 
software support for years so that more customers can unlock 
new features and functionality. With every generation of a 
product, we strive to deliver durability that minimizes the need 
for repairs through features like water resistance. Designing 
with repairability in mind is also an essential element of our 
commitment to long-lasting devices. We’ve made increasing 
access to repair options a priority — through Apple Authorized 
Service Providers, the Independent Repair Provider program, 
and, announced in 2021, the upcoming Self Service Repair 
option. Our customers can access the type of repair service 
Product longevity
that they feel is best for them, should they need it. And by 
offering software updates, we aim to help more customers 
benefit from new features, whether their device is new or 
several generations older.
We build durability into our designs
We design our products to be used continuously, with 
minimal interruption for maintenance or repair. Designing 
and building durable hardware is core to delivering this 
customer experience. 
Across our products, we develop innovative designs that are 
engineered to withstand the rigors of everyday use. We assess 
these designs against our strict durability standards through 
testing methods that mimic realistic conditions in which our 
customers use their products. Every aspect of our products is 
thoroughly assessed by engineers in our Reliability Testing Lab 
who measure the performance of materials, components, and 
fully assembled products. The durability standards established 
by us are based on in-depth user studies to understand how 
our customers use — and misuse — their products. 
Thousands of units are tested during product development, 
and the results of each test inform the next round of design. 
We use a “rock tumbler” test to assess the performance of 
the outer enclosure of iPad and iPhone against scrapes and 
scratches. This mimics the day-to-day abrasions of coins and 
keys that a device may experience in a purse or backpack. 
For Apple Watch, our engineers have created a weighted 
pendulum test to simulate impacts that a device may endure 
from an arm swinging into an object. These are in addition to 
our drop testing, which evaluates products falling from different 
heights and angles onto a range of surfaces to improve their 
resilience to an accidental drop. We continue to test recycled 
or renewable materials to the same performance standards as 
other materials — making sure our products stay as durable as 
ever, even as we explore new material sources.
Thousands of units are 
tested in our Reliability 
Testing Lab to inform the 
design of our products.
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And just as we advance product features and capabilities 
with each new generation of a device, we also strive to 
improve durability. With iPhone 12, we introduced Ceramic 
Shield, a new front cover made entirely of a new material. 
Together with the new product design, it gave iPhone 12 four 
times better drop performance than the previous generation, 
and we carried that innovation over to iPhone 13. This 
advancement comes alongside other durability features, 
iPhone longevity journey
2007
2010
2016
2018
2021
*	 iPhone 7, iPhone X, and iPhone 13 models are splash, water, and dust resistant and were tested under controlled laboratory conditions. iPhone 7 and iPhone X have a rating of IP67 under IEC standard 
60529 (maximum depth of 1 meter up to 30 minutes). iPhone 13 has a rating of IP68 under IEC standard 60529 (maximum depth of 6 meters up to 30 minutes). Splash, water, and dust resistance are 
not permanent conditions and resistance might decrease as a result of normal wear. Do not attempt to charge a wet iPhone; refer to the user guide for cleaning and drying instructions. Liquid damage not 
covered under warranty.
 	Features to enhance durability
	 Repairable at retail stores, Apple Authorized 
Service Providers, and central repair locations
 SIM tray 
 SIM tray 
 Battery
 Haptics
 Rear camera
 SIM tray 
 Battery
 Haptics
 Rear camera
 Main logic board
 Display
 Splash, water, and dust 
resistant: IP67* 
 Sapphire crystal lens cover
 SIM tray
 Battery
 Haptics
 Rear camera
 Main logic board
 Display
 Bottom speaker
 Enclosure
 Splash, water, and dust 
resistant: IP67*
 Sapphire crystal lens cover 
 Surgical-grade stainless steel
iPhone (1st generation)
iPhone 4
iPhone 7
iPhone X
 SIM tray 
 Battery
 Haptics
 Rear camera
 Main logic board
 Display
 Bottom speaker
 Top speaker 
 Enclosure 
 Splash, water, and dust 
resistant: IP68* 
 Sapphire crystal lens cover
 Surgical-grade stainless steel
 Ceramic Shield
iPhone 13
Increased durability and 
repairability enhance 
iPhone longevity
including industry-leading IP68 water resistance. We’ve 
also made progress with Apple Watch Series 7, which has 
a water resistance rating of 50 meters (under ISO standard 
22810:2010) and is also rated IP6X dust resistant. Each 
improvement is part of our effort to keep our products in use 
and out of the repair shop.
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We’re making repairs more convenient
We design our products to minimize the need for repair in 
the first place. If a repair is needed, we believe our customers 
should have convenient access to quality repair services to get 
their product back up and running as quickly as possible.
Over the past three years, we’ve nearly doubled the number 
of service locations with access to genuine Apple parts, 
tools, and training, offering more ways for consumers to get 
repairs. These repair options include Apple Store locations, 
Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASP), participating 
Independent Repair Providers, mail-in repair centers, or onsite 
service and, starting in 2022, Self Service Repair. Our repair 
network has grown to over 5000 AASP locations and over 
3000 Independent Repair Providers around the world — in 
addition to our 500 Apple retail locations.
For the past three years, our Independent Repair Provider 
program has enabled independent repair businesses — large 
and small — access to genuine Apple parts, tools, diagnostics, 
and training. In 2021, this program expanded from the U.S., 
Europe, and Canada to more than 200 countries worldwide. 
We’re also increasing coverage for onsite service options 
in select cities across the United States, providing greater 
convenience to our customers. We actively train and certify 
service personnel to service Apple products. Our global 
training system currently supports over a hundred thousand 
active technicians. This helps ensure that points of failure are 
correctly diagnosed, and services and repairs are performed 
successfully, preventing damage to the device and ensuring 
that the device works as it should.
In 2021, we announced 
Self Service Repair, a new 
program that offers Apple 
genuine parts and tools, 
as well as repair manuals, 
to customers.
Global repair locations
	 	 Apple Authorized Service Providers, 
retail stores, and Independent  
Repair Providers
	 	 Self Service Repair
New Self Service 
Repair program 
announced in the U.S.
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countries around the world for vintage products sold up to 
seven years previously.16 A new program for Mac notebooks 
makes battery repair available for up to 10 years after a 
product was last distributed.16 These efforts are just some of 
the ways we continue to make progress on the repairability of 
our products.
We also announced Self Service Repair coming later this year 
for iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 for customers who are comfortable 
completing their own repairs. The program will start in the U.S. 
and offers access to genuine Apple parts and tools, as well 
as a Repair Manual for the most common repairs on iPhone 
12 and iPhone 13. And we’ll be expanding the program to 
more products — starting with Mac computers featuring M1 
chips — and additional countries throughout 2022. Following 
a repair, customers who send in their used parts for recycling 
will receive credit back from their purchase. Self Service Repair 
is intended for customers with the knowledge and experience 
to repair electronic devices. For most customers, visiting a 
professional repair provider with certified technicians who use 
genuine Apple parts is the safest way to repair a device.
We’re designing products with 
repairability in mind
Our goal is to avoid the interruption a repair may cause for our 
customers, which is why we optimize designs for durability. 
But if a product requires a repair, it should be as convenient 
as possible. We continue to design our products with features 
that enhance repairability. For instance, iPhone has continued 
to improve repairability by increasing the number of repairable 
modules while also adding durability features like water 
resistance. The iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 designs, for example, 
allow for more repairs to be performed at more repair locations 
than ever before. Now these products’ displays, batteries, 
cameras, speakers, and haptics, among other parts, can be 
repaired at central locations including retail stores and AASPs. 
And MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2018) and later models 
include a stretch-release adhesive, which facilitates battery 
replacement. We’ve also expanded repair part availability in 
Apple’s Independent Repair Provider Program expanded to more than 200 countries worldwide in 2021.
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Visit our Certified 
Refurbished site where 
we offer products 
backed by the same 
one-year warranty as 
our new products and 
the Apple Certified 
Refurbished promise.17
We keep our products current  
with software updates
Apple provides free software upgrades to improve our 
customers’ experience and help our products last longer. 
Our customers can count on the latest software features 
and security updates to their existing devices for years. We 
continually improve the operating systems that power our 
products and engineer each software release to run seamlessly 
on all supported devices. This allows more customers to 
benefit from the latest software updates, whether their device 
is brand new or several generations older.
iOS 15, our most recent release, extends support back to 
iPhone 6s (2015). iPadOS 15 compatibility goes back to iPad 
Air 2 (2014) and macOS Monterey supports MacBook models 
from 2015 onward. The updates in each operating system 
make the latest capabilities — from FaceTime and SharePlay to 
Continuity features — available to a broad user base, keeping 
their devices up to date and extending their usability. These 
updates also help ensure that more customers have access to 
the newest security and privacy features available.
Our updates remain popular with our customers. By January 
2022, more than 70 percent of all iPhone devices introduced in 
the last four years had updated to iOS 15. And iPadOS 15 was 
being used on 57 percent of devices released in the last four 
years. These continually high rates of adoption make clear that 
our customers see value in software updates. And for a period 
of time, we also provided customers with the option to update 
iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 with new security features — helping 
those customers who wanted more time before updating to the 
newest operating system.
We extend the life of products 
and parts through refurbishment 
and reuse
Products that last longer make the best use of the resources 
that go into them. We can lower the impact each device has on 
the environment — including carbon intensity per year of life 
— by finding ways to refurbish and reuse these products. And 
by building our products to serve more than one owner and 
encouraging customers to exchange devices for an upgrade, 
we extend the life of our products.
We collect devices for refurbishing and reuse through several 
programs, including Apple Trade In, the iPhone Upgrade 
Program, AppleCare, and our corporate Hardware Reuse 
Program. In fiscal year 2021, we sent 12.2 million devices and 
accessories to new owners for reuse. Our Trade In program 
extends to 25 countries, providing customers with options 
for product end-of-life — to access the value of their current 
device if they want to upgrade to a newer model, or to recycle 
their devices for free. 
The success of our trade-in programs and those of third 
parties is because of our customers. Their actions help realize 
the long-term value we’ve designed and built into our products 
— whether through trading or passing down their devices, or 
by purchasing refurbished products. Each product that goes 
through this process marks progress toward reducing our 
overall environmental footprint.
We’re also working on getting the most from the parts inside 
our devices. At the end of life of a product we can realize the 
potential of components through recovery and reuse, either 
as replacement parts or in new creative applications. We’re 
also expanding the number of parts that can be recovered, 
refurbished to our high quality and performance standards, and 
reused as replacements. This enables us to reduce the need 
to create spare parts as we repair devices. And we continue to 
look for innovative opportunities to reuse accessories sent for 
recycling as well. For example, we send collected power cables 
and adapters that still function to our final assembly sites, 
where they power products used on production lines.
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While we offer and 
participate in e-waste 
recycling programs 
around the world, we 
continue to explore 
ways to make recycling 
even more convenient 
for our customers. 
That’s why, through 
our membership with 
CEF, we’re collaborating 
with Google, Amazon, 
Dell Technologies, 
and Microsoft to pilot 
a doorstep recycling 
program. This pilot allows 
customers in the city of 
Denver to order e-waste 
recycling pick-up directly 
from their homes starting 
in February 2022. 
Each stage in the life cycle of our products 
is significant, including end-of-life. When 
a product or part no longer functions 
as intended, it can still be a source of 
valuable materials for the next generation 
of products. 
By effectively recovering these materials, we enable the circular 
supply chains that make the best use of finite resources. 
This requires collaboration — with our customers who trade 
in their used products and recyclers who recover materials 
from them. Through this approach, we’re reducing the need 
to mine new materials and the amount of energy needed to 
manufacture new products, ultimately driving down emissions 
and conserving resources.
We’re using partnerships and 
innovation to optimize how we recycle
Recycling is at the center of our efforts to create circular supply 
chains. We strive to make it easier for our customers to recycle 
our products. In 99 percent of the countries where we sell 
products, we continue to provide and participate in product 
take-back and recycling collection programs. These include 
our retail locations, where our customers can trade in devices 
they are no longer using to be reused or recycled, as well as 
recycling programs offered by local operators. Customers 
also have access to even more recycling options through 
online platforms like Trade In. With the help of customer and 
employee participation across recycling programs, we directed 
more than 38,000 metric tons of e-waste to recycling globally 
in fiscal year 2021.
We have high standards for our recycling partners. We seek 
out and work with recyclers and refiners who are the best-
in-class, who can deliver high recovery rates and meet our 
rigorous requirements. In fiscal year 2021, we conducted 75 
recycler audits globally, for compliance on topics including 
labor and human rights, security, and EHS regulations. We also 
work closely with these recyclers to further encourage the use 
of best practices in their facilities. Each one of our recyclers 
in North America is either e-Stewards or R2 certified, the 
electronics industry’s leading certifications. 
Product end-of-life
We help our recyclers develop the capabilities and resources 
to effectively recycle each Apple product. This requires 
collaboration, training, and ongoing support. Our experts work 
onsite at the recycling locations with our recycling partners’ 
staff to better understand their needs and the challenges they 
face. Last year, we introduced new Apple Recycler Guides 
to provide guidance for professional electronics recyclers on 
how to safely disassemble Apple products — and maximize 
recovery of resources. The guides are developed by our 
engineering teams, to optimize recovery and make sure that 
the processes can be completed using tools and procedures 
available to a wide range of professional recyclers. Each guide 
provides valuable insight on the steps for disassembly, as 
well as recommended downstream material recyclers for our 
disassembled parts. And we’re always looking to innovation 
to support recyclers. This year we’ll be piloting a simple-to-
use augmented reality tool to better train our partners on 
disassembly and recovery. We’re also working to develop a 
vision system for machines to better sort and organize scrap, 
enabling better material recovery. 
With the support of recycling partners around the world, we directed more than 38,000 metric tons 
of e-waste to recycling globally in fiscal year 2021.
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We’re constantly developing 
new approaches to disassembly 
and recovery
At our Material Recovery Lab (MRL), also located in an  
R2-certified facility, we’re working on developing better, more 
efficient means of disassembling products that maximize 
material recovery, while minimizing waste. The MRL’s work 
assesses the recyclability of our products, helping to inform 
design decisions that support disassembly and recovery. 
And it engages with the educational community. Interns from 
universities across the U.S. joined our engineers in 2021, 
developing new approaches to the unique challenges of 
recycling. Interns have helped benchmark the performance of 
computer vision systems and modeled recycling processes to 
predict performance, among other projects. We’ve also opened 
the MRL’s internship to students earlier in their undergraduate 
years, to provide them with access and experience to help 
develop their careers.
We’ve also continued to innovate on disassembly technologies. 
Our disassembly robot Daisy quickly and skillfully disassembles 
iPhone devices into discrete components to enable better 
material recovery and recycling. Last year, we expanded  
Daisy’s disassembly capabilities from 15 to 23 models of 
iPhone, including all models between iPhone 5 to iPhone 12.  
All of this effort to disassemble iPhone devices creates 
meaningful results. From just one metric ton of iPhone main 
logic boards, flexes, and camera modules recovered by Daisy, 
our recycling partner was able to recover the same amount 
of gold and copper as more than 2000 metric tons of mined 
rock.18 And we hope that Daisy can inspire similar efforts. 
Last year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued Apple 
five patents related to Daisy, which we’re willing to license to 
researchers and other electronics manufacturers developing 
their own disassembly processes.19
We’re also continuing to develop other tools. Dave, our robot 
that disassembles Taptic Engines, helps recover valuable 
rare earth magnets, tungsten, and steel. And Taz, our latest 
recycling machine, is designed to recycle modules containing 
rare earth magnets as an alternative to the conventional 
shredder many recyclers rely on. While rare earth magnets 
are typically lost in these conventional shredders, Taz is 
designed to keep these valuable materials intact to improve our 
overall recovery rate. We’ve also worked on other manual and 
semi-automated tools, including 3D printed tools to improve 
the ergonomics and safety of battery recovery, as well as a 
custom-designed jig to disassemble AirPods charging cases. 
We’re designing for the next  
generation of recycling
Recycling innovation requires a long-term approach. Our 
current technologies serve a vital role in recovering valuable 
materials — and we’re committed to continuously improving 
how we do this. At the same time, new and emerging 
technologies represent some of the best opportunities to 
impact the future. Research and development in these areas 
have the potential for transformative changes. This is what 
drives our investment and support of initiatives that are poised 
to redefine disassembly and recovery.
For the past three years, we’ve worked with Carnegie Mellon 
University’s Biorobotics Lab on new approaches and methods 
for recycling. This has included developing machine learning 
models to sort e-waste at scale, an innovation with the potential 
to enable recyclers to recognize valuable modules and devices 
to recover their resources within a diverse waste stream. We’ve 
also worked with the lab on incorporating X-ray imaging with 
RGB imaging to improve the accuracy of disassembly and 
recovery of materials. And we’re optimizing how our robots 
function, enabling a robot to “feel” by using high-frequency 
force feedback and machine learning, so it can adjust behavior 
when contacting an object. This is a small step in a larger effort 
toward developing truly intelligent disassembly technology.
In October 2021, we 
launched a partnership 
with Atea — the 
leading provider of IT 
infrastructure solutions 
in the Nordic and Baltic 
region — to collect end-
of-life iPhone devices 
for recycling with our 
Daisy robot located in 
the Netherlands. And 
we are eager for more of 
our customers to return 
more end-of-life devices 
to us, so we can keep 
our fleet of recycling 
and disassembly robots 
busy. To learn more about 
our recycling programs, 
visit the Apple Recycling 
Programs site.
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To achieve truly circular products  
and supply chains requires innovative 
approaches — to technical obstacles  
and policy challenges.
Over the last year, we reached new milestones in how we 
use recycled materials in our products, extend the life of 
our devices, and enhance recycling of our products. iPhone 
13 made extensive use of certified recycled content, including 
rare earth elements, tungsten, aluminum, and for the first 
time, gold. Our new iPad devices incorporated a 100 percent 
recycled aluminum enclosure. The global expansion of our 
Independent Repair Provider program, and the announcement 
of our Self Service Repair program, will make repair options 
more accessible for those seeking to extend the life of their 
Apple products. And our disassembly robot Daisy expanded 
its capabilities to take apart an even greater range of iPhone 
devices, for better material recovery. Each of these is part of 
our ongoing efforts to build, support, and participate in circular 
supply chains.
We’re also working to improve policy to scale product  
recovery and material recycling so global industries can  
meet key environmental goals. Part of this requires reframing 
the understanding of the product life cycle. Products at the 
end of their life should be viewed as a source of materials for 
new products — with significant environmental opportunities. 
For example, we’re able to recover one metric ton of gold 
and copper from end-of-life iPhone components that would 
otherwise require mining more than 2000 metric tons of  
rock.20 This represents both an achievement for circular supply 
chains and significant carbon savings. Recycled aluminum,  
for example, can have 1/40th the carbon footprint of  
primary aluminum.21
Yet, existing policies don’t see recovered materials as 
resources. They often view products and materials no longer 
serving their intended use as waste — and, in some cases, 
more stringently as hazardous waste. We fully support the 
intent of these policies to protect vulnerable communities 
Our position on resource 
recovery policy
from global waste streams. But some policies can also limit the 
ability to move recovered materials to best-in-class recyclers 
or refiners, which can unintentionally make mining the earth 
more cost-effective than reuse of materials. We believe there 
could be a new approach to regulations — that better protect 
communities and help the broader electronics industry realize 
the full potential of recovered material as a resource. This 
would make movement of some materials around the world 
to recyclers and refiners more transparent and efficient. It 
would also increase the recovery and reuse of materials, while 
strengthening environmental and community protections.
To make progress on resource recovery, we need a global 
paradigm shift on how materials are moved. One key first step 
would be for the U.S. to ratify the Basel Convention.22 The 
Convention serves as the global framework that governs how 
some waste can be moved around the world for recycling, 
recovery, and disposal in an environmentally responsible 
way. It provides critical protections against the movement 
of hazardous waste into countries that lack the resources to 
manage them properly. It has been ratified by 189 countries, 
meaning that those nations can move waste covered by 
the Convention among themselves under the agreement’s 
requirements. The U.S. is one of a very small number of 
nations that is not a party to the Basel Convention. As a result, 
the movement of Basel-controlled wastes for recycling or 
resource recovery into or from the U.S. to nearly all other 
countries in the world is highly restricted, requiring specific 
trade agreements with that country. Not only is it harder for the 
U.S. to participate in the international movement of material 
for purposes of recycling, it is also limited in the ability to 
influence policy as the Convention evolves and to create more 
efficient and effective circular supply chains for electronics. 
But there is an opportunity for a new approach. By ratifying 
the Basel Convention, the U.S. could unlock the potential to 
influence policy and create more efficient and effective circular 
supply chains.
1/40th 
Recycled aluminum 
has 1/40th the carbon 
footprint of primary 
aluminum — another 
reason to support 
efficient transport of  
end-of-life products to 
top recyclers.23
CO2
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Water
We help our suppliers collect and reuse water, through efforts including condensate recovery.
Every drop of water counts in the  
design and use of our products,  
services, and sites.
In many locations, freshwater resources have become 
increasingly scarce and vulnerable to the effects of climate 
change. We’re committed to managing the resources we share 
with the communities where we and our suppliers operate. This 
means taking steps to reduce our freshwater withdrawals and 
return clean water to watersheds. Using this approach, we’re 
helping address one significant aspect of the water challenge 
— availability. We aim to reserve freshwater use to applications 
where it’s essential — like drinking water — and switch to 
lower-quality water for applications like irrigation and cooling. 
We’re also working to maintain the quality of water we use and 
discharge to help make water available at a quality fit for its next 
use. Finally, water access matters to us. Broader communities 
and ecosystems within the watershed also need access to 
water resources. Our approach to water stewardship takes 
each of these three factors into consideration. And we look 
beyond the needs and activities happening within our facilities 
and those of our suppliers to the needs of the communities 
where we operate.
Context matters in this approach. We use tools like the 
World Resources Institute (WRI) Water Risk Atlas to provide 
geographically specific water use and water-related risks that 
inform our local strategy. Areas with high water risk — where 
approximately 39 percent of our corporate water use occurs 
— are our priority, but our strategy also works to proactively 
address areas of medium risk.24 And we use assessments of 
water stress along with site-level water use to guide our supply 
chain efforts as well.
What we know about our local water footprint informs how we 
prioritize and target our efforts. We measure and continually 
monitor usage at our facilities, and we survey our direct 
suppliers on the water impact of their sites as well. These 
efforts already exceed the industry standard, but we go even 
further. To add to the data collected from direct suppliers, we’ve 
also invested in life cycle assessment tools to begin to estimate 
water use even further upstream in material supply chains. It’s 
not common to account for these upstream uses within our 
industry. We believe this rigorous and holistic measurement of 
our supply chain’s impact is essential to driving effective water 
management across the value chain.
Our efforts to address the water footprint of our corporate sites 
and of our suppliers’ sites focus on the following key efforts: 
• Using water efficiently.
• Expanding the use of alternative water sources,  
including onsite reuse.
• Discharging water responsibly.
• Enhancing our water stewardship to keep watersheds healthy 
for all who rely on them.
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We’re improving efficiency  
across our operations
Minimizing freshwater use remains a priority. We focus our 
efforts on high water risk regions, taking steps to reduce our 
freshwater usage. At each of our corporate and supplier sites, 
we rely on water for sanitation, climate control, maintaining 
green spaces, or manufacturing. Even as we promote more 
efficient uses, we’re committed to doing more.
We’re committed to improving efficiency, to decouple the 
amount of freshwater we use from the growth in our corporate 
facilities. In fiscal year 2021, our facilities used about 1.4 billion 
gallons of water. We saved 133 million gallons of freshwater this 
fiscal year due to efficiency projects implemented since 2017.25 
Our local efforts are driving this progress. At our data centers 
in Maiden, North Carolina, and Reno, Nevada, we piloted an 
innovative approach to water treatment. Using a plant-based 
treatment method for process cooling water, we’re able to 
increase water efficiency, while avoiding chemical usage and 
reducing discharge. This method also reduces waste since 
the plant material is compostable. In addition, the majority of 
our data center sites have water management plans in place, 
further supporting the overall management of nearly  
30 percent of Apple total corporate water use.
Our supply chain accounts for 99 percent of our total water 
footprint based on our detailed water inventory. That’s why 
we partner closely with our suppliers through our Clean Water 
Program. The more than 195 participating supplier sites 
increased their average reuse rate to 41 percent and saved our 
suppliers 12.3 billion gallons of freshwater in fiscal year 2021 
— for a total of 50.3 billion gallons of water savings since the 
program’s launch in 2013.26 These savings come from a range 
of initiatives such as reuse of reclaimed water, upgrades to 
water-efficient equipment, or countercurrent rinse methods.
 	Freshwater
	
We define freshwater as drinking-water quality, the majority of 
which comes from municipal sources and less than 5 percent 
comes from groundwater.
 	Recycled water
	
We source recycled water as a key alternative to freshwater and 
use it primarily for irrigation, cooling systems, or toilet flushing. 
Our recycled water comes primarily from municipal treatment 
plants, with less than 5 percent from onsite treatment.
 	Other alternative sources
	
We also capture rainwater and recover condensation as another 
alternative water source for use onsite. 
Water use at corporate facilities
We track our corporate water use for our data centers,  
retail stores, and corporate offices. 
1407Mgal
89%
<1%
Other alternative  
sources
Freshwater
10%
Recycled water
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We’re using alternatives  
to freshwater
We’re addressing water availability by utilizing alternatives to 
freshwater, including recycled water, reclaimed water, rainwater, 
and condensate. We’re also supporting water quality by 
matching different qualities of water to appropriate uses. When 
we increase our reliance on alternative water sources at each 
of our locations, we lessen our impact on freshwater demand 
within the local watershed.
Last year, alternative water sources accounted for 10 percent  
of our total corporate water usage — primarily from recycled 
water sources.27 At Apple locations in Texas, North Carolina, 
Ireland, Taiwan, and Japan, we utilized rainwater capture 
systems to source 7 million gallons of water. We continue 
to introduce advanced water recovery systems. And in 
Santa Clara Valley and North Carolina we’re expanding our 
condensate recovery. 
Our suppliers are also implementing innovations to use 
alternative sources of water. Several suppliers have begun to 
collect steam that condenses from boilers — a central piece 
of equipment at these supplier sites. Steam collection not only 
provides a new water source, but also reduces the frequency 
that boilers need to be cleaned of impurities. This yields both 
water and energy savings. Through initiatives like these, the 
suppliers within our Clean Water Program reused an average of 
41 percent of wastewater in 2021.
We’re managing the quality  
of water we discharge
When we return water to the watershed, we want to ensure that 
others can use it. This requires taking active steps to manage 
the quality of the water we discharge. We’ve made this a pillar 
of our water stewardship approach because it directly effects 
the availability of water to the communities with which we share 
this resource. 
Activities at Apple facilities — like offices, data centers, and  
retail stores — are largely low risk with regard to water 
discharge quality. Most wastewater is discharged to the 
sanitary sewer; for example, up to 54 percent of the water we 
use at our corporate locations is discharged back into the local 
water system rather than consumed.28 Where sites have an 
industrial wastewater discharge, we monitor our water quality 
and have policies to ensure that each site meets or exceeds 
local discharge requirements. 
We require our suppliers to maintain the high standards 
for water discharge outlined in the Apple Supplier Code of 
Conduct. Through Apple’s Clean Water Program, we help 
suppliers to minimize process water impacts and adopt best 
practices in wastewater treatment. For example, we advise 
that our suppliers avoid combining wastewater streams to 
simplify cleaning and filtration. This enables wastewater reuse 
and reduces reliance on freshwater resources. We support 
these efforts with training, offering guidance on advanced 
wastewater treatment methods and technologies to empower 
our suppliers to improve the quality of water they discharge so 
it’s ready for its subsequent use. We are also piloting the use 
of acid recovery and filtration technologies to clean process 
water so it can be used again and again — enabling a high 
reuse rate for a critical manufacturing process. This technology 
extracts and cleans all chemicals out of water used in a final 
step in the aluminum casting process. The extracted materials 
are either reused or disposed of, while the water remains within 
the production cycle. This avoids discharge and ensures the 
continual reuse of water. The pilot ran successfully at a supplier 
site and will continue at an Apple facility to further prove the 
technology’s application — new to our industry.
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We’re working to keep 
watersheds healthy 
Water is a shared natural resource, and managing local 
watersheds requires shared responsibility and collective 
effort. We’re committed to understanding our impacts on the 
watersheds where we operate and engaging in action critical 
to ensuring their health. In Prineville, Oregon, we partnered 
with the city to bring an aquifer storage and recovery system 
online in May 2021. In fiscal year 2021, this system stored 
nearly 100 million gallons of water during winter months, 
reducing pressure on the local watershed during drier 
summer months.29
Prineville was also the location of our first Apple-owned 
or operated site — and the first data center worldwide 
— to achieve certification under the Alliance for Water 
Stewardship (AWS). The Alliance is a global membership 
collaboration between public and private sector members 
and NGOs to promote a shared framework on the 
sustainable use of water. These certifications reflect 
each facility’s efforts to consider impacts to local water 
basins to benefit local communities and ecosystems. And 
we’re expanding our commitment to AWS by pursuing 
certification of our remaining owned and operated 
data centers.
Apple works with the Alliance for Water Stewardship and others to promote water stewardship that protects the health of water basins, including the Kunshan watershed in China.
1st 
Apple, alongside other 
partners, helped the 
Suzhou Industrial 
Park become the first 
industrial park in the 
world to earn Alliance 
for Water Stewardship 
certification.
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Our supplier facilities are also aligning to these best practices 
in water stewardship. As of the end of fiscal year 2021, 17 
supplier facilities have received certification, of which 15 were 
Platinum status, the highest level of recognition by AWS. In 
2021, we also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) 
with the Suzhou Industrial Park Administrative Committee 
and TEDA Eco Center with the aim of Suzhou becoming the 
world’s first industrial park to achieve AWS certification. Of the 
more than 1700 companies operating out of the 278-square-
kilometer industrial park, 11 are Apple suppliers. In January 
2022, after months of collaborative engagement with suppliers 
and partners, the industrial park officially obtained the AWS 
Gold Level certification. With this milestone, Suzhou Industrial 
Park achieved the objective of becoming the first industrial 
park in the world to obtain AWS certification.
As we pursue water stewardship within our own supply chain, 
we are also working to catalyze broader industry change 
through collaborations with groups, including AWS and the 
Responsible Business Alliance (RBA). In 2021, we supported 
the translation of the AWS standard into Japanese and 
developed guidelines on best practices for Apple suppliers. 
And we continued our work with AWS and RBA on the 
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) water 
stewardship working group. We’re aiming to expand the 
dialogue on water use to industries that have historically been 
less involved in water issues, while providing opportunities to 
share knowledge and best practices. 
We’ve also worked with NGOs like the Alliance for Water 
Stewardship, The Nature Conservancy (Qiandao Lake 
Waterfund Project), and Conservation International to foster 
collaboration at the basin level, particularly in high-risk areas. 
For the past three years, in an effort to raise broader awareness 
of water challenges and opportunities in local communities 
in China, Apple has organized a series of hands-on learning 
experiences for a diverse group of stakeholders we call Water 
Champions. To have a real effect on water resources requires 
collaboration, which is why we’ve engaged broadly to work 
with others.
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Sending materials to landfill makes poor 
use of the world’s resources, while also 
contributing to global emissions. And the 
most vulnerable communities around the 
world are disproportionately exposed 
to the negative consequences of waste 
disposal. This is why we’ve made waste-
free operations a priority. 
We’re working to send nothing to landfill from our offices, retail 
locations, data centers, and construction sites. This effort also 
extends to our suppliers. We’re also taking steps to eliminate 
waste generated during manufacturing, engaging with local 
specialty recyclers and composters to redirect materials from 
landfills. This work requires innovative approaches and local 
solutions, to preserve the resources we rely on and to build 
our processes around this objective. If we can stop waste at 
the source, we create meaningful progress — protecting each 
community where we and our suppliers operate. 
We’re working on new approaches  
to waste at our corporate facilities
Across our corporate operations, we’re reducing the amount 
of waste we generate and directing more toward recycling 
programs. We launched the Zero Waste Program in 2018 with 
a focus on our major U.S. campuses and global retail stores. 
Since then, our operations have grown both in the U.S. and 
globally. But our objective remains the same: to send zero 
waste to landfill.
In fiscal year 2021, recycling and composting efforts allowed 
us to achieve a waste diversion rate of 68 percent, limiting 
landfill waste from our global operations to about 15,000 metric 
tons.30 Our overall waste generated also remained low in part 
due to COVID-related temporary closure of facilities. We’re 
continuing to make strategic progress across our sites. In 2015, 
our campus in Cork, Ireland, became the first Apple facility to 
Zero waste
receive UL’s Zero Waste to Landfill certification. Last year, our 
Mesa, Arizona, data center became the second Apple facility to 
receive TRUE certification, following the Prineville data center in 
2020.31 TRUE recognizes that more than 90 percent of waste 
from a facility is sent to recycling or compost, or is redirected 
for reuse. We upgraded our infrastructure to allow for better 
waste separation, and by switching to reusable alternatives 
from single-use materials. Each certification also involved 
coordinating with local composters, as well as identifying 
and partnering with local plastics recyclers that could handle 
specific materials, including plastic wraps and foams. These 
providers are local businesses that provide broader solutions 
than municipal waste disposal programs. And our work with 
them is an opportunity to support the local economies around 
recycling and composting.
As our company continues to grow and change, we’ve made 
construction and demolition waste a priority. This year we 
were able to achieve a waste diversion rate of 85 percent, 
approximately 13,000 metric tons of construction and 
demolition material, through recycling and source separation 
efforts. At our corporate office in New York City, we were 
able to recycle over 170 metric tons of drywall from landfill by 
partnering with a local specialty recycler. At several locations in 
Santa Clara Valley, California, we piloted an effort to separate 
waste onsite, which allowed us to unlock opportunities to 
generate revenue from recyclers seeking specific types of 
waste, like copper cables. These recycling efforts allowed us to 
achieve an impressive 100 percent waste diversion rate across 
sites — an effort we aim to scale. For preservation projects 
at our retail locations in the U.S. and Canada, we require 
vendors to recycle, compost, or reuse at least 75 percent of 
construction and demolition waste — and ask them to disclose 
materials that were landfilled.
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And we’re focused on reducing waste. This starts with 
identifying key sources of waste — like packaging materials 
or commonly used equipment. We’re collaborating with our 
suppliers to move toward bulk packaging, or packaging made 
with materials that are recyclable or reusable. We are also 
switching to reusable air filters across our data center sites  
— a commonly used and replaced piece of equipment without 
a recycling solution. We partnered with a car filter manufacturer 
to develop a new reusable air filter that fits the specific 
performance requirements of our data center equipment. And 
these filters are also available to other companies. As we build 
out and maintain our data centers, we will use only reusable 
filters in the future.
For the waste we can’t avoid, we’re taking steps to keep 
it out of landfills. The first step is to ensure that items end 
up sorted correctly. This requires clear messaging and the 
availability of containers to redirect waste. We continue to roll 
out consolidated bins for recycling, composting, and landfill, 
and improved signage to reduce contamination and increase 
recycling rates. The majority of our corporate sites worldwide 
recycle paper, plastic, aluminum, and cardboard materials. 
And more than 450 of our offices and retail stores globally 
participate in composting as well.
We’ve continued our focus on end-of-life options for personal 
protective equipment for the COVID-19 pandemic, including 
a waste-to-energy solution for face masks and gloves used 
in our offices in the Santa Clara Valley and at more than 250 
retail locations in the United States.32 The health of employees, 
customers, and communities remains our priority; we’re 
working to align the needs to operate safely with our zero 
waste objectives. 
We also maintain our commitment to the safe and responsible 
management of hazardous waste, both onsite and offsite. The 
Treatment, Storage, and Disposal facilities (TSDFs) we utilize 
are audited to ensure that the waste is treated, recycled, or 
incinerated within the governing safety standards for health 
and the environment. Any facility that doesn’t meet our 
requirements is replaced by another approved waste facility.
We’re developing zero waste 
manufacturing with our suppliers
We’re committed to leaving no waste behind in the 
communities where we build our products. To achieve this, 
we’ve partnered with our suppliers, recyclers, and waste 
solution providers to eliminate waste from our manufacturing 
processes. Since we launched the Zero Waste Program for our 
manufacturing partners in 2015, we’ve achieved considerable 
progress. At the close of fiscal year 2021, more than 100 
facilities had been zero waste verified — nearly half of the 
supplier facilities that are part of our Zero Waste Program.33
All participating facilities across 12 countries can access 
resources including guidance on how to reduce waste and then 
reuse, recycle, or compost the waste they do create. Suppliers 
can also access tools to improve waste management, and in 
some cases, onsite support. And we’re seeing results: in fiscal 
year 2021, suppliers redirected 491,000 metric tons of waste 
from landfills, bringing the total to over 2 million metric tons 
since the program’s inception — the equivalent of eliminating 
more than 2.5 million square meters of landfill space.
We’ve been successful at achieving this goal at our final 
assembly supplier sites. For the second year in a row,  
100 percent of established final assembly sites including 
iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, AirPods, HomePod, Apple TV, 
and Beats maintained zero waste to landfill operations in fiscal 
year 2021.34
The next challenge is a level deeper into the sub-assembly 
module suppliers who assemble individual components that 
make up Apple products. The waste stream at this level is often 
more complex than final assembly sites, but we’re making 
progress. We started with Apple Watch Series 7: By the end of 
the fiscal year, all established final assembly sites and all key 
module sub-assembly sites achieved zero waste — including 
the sites assembling the display, battery, housing, band, and 
packaging.35 Eliminating landfill waste across these sites marks 
both a significant effort and achievement, helping keep more 
than 35,000 metric tons of waste out of landfills. 
100+ 
Apple supplier facilities 
are zero waste verified.
2M+ 
metric tons of waste
redirected from landfill  
by supplier facilities as  
part of Apple’s Zero 
Waste Program.
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To do this we’ve partnered with our suppliers and local 
businesses to create new recycling options and develop 
opportunities for materials reuse. Recycling and reuse not 
only provides environmental benefits, but also can help our 
suppliers increase material efficiency and reduce the costs 
associated with material waste. At final assembly supplier 
sites, more of our suppliers use the recyclable and reusable 
alternatives we helped develop for key sources of waste — in 
particular, our Recyclable Protective Films (RPFs) that protect 
products during manufacturing, and the reusable trays  
used to deliver modules safely through assembly sites.  
In 2021, iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro were assembled using 
only RPFs.
Access to recycling and reuse varies from region to region, 
and some of our suppliers have limited access to recycling 
infrastructure. This was the case for our final assembly supplier 
site in Vietnam. To help this supplier become the first zero waste 
certified site in the country, we saw an opportunity to introduce 
a successful tray reuse program currently used by our suppliers 
in China. Trays play an essential role in our manufacturing 
process, carrying modules suppliers build to the final assembly 
site. We helped the third-party tray recycler expand their 
business from China to Vietnam, so they could collect, clean, 
and return plastic trays back to our supplier for reuse. Tray 
reuse across supplier sites reduced use of virgin plastic for 
component trays by 5000 metric tons in fiscal year 2021.
Yet, challenges remain for many suppliers — whether it’s 
a lack of access to recycling technologies, the absence of 
local infrastructure, or the lower value of recyclable material 
that impacts the economics of recycling. To address these 
challenges together, and across our supply chain, we’ve 
designed a “Waste to Resource” database to provide access 
to the existing available technologies and local recyclers that 
we collected from the suppliers we work with. To date, we have 
compiled information on more than 700 recycling resources 
across more than 170 cities in China. As more of our supplier 
locations achieve their zero waste goals, they will continue to 
share valuable resources through the database. In the future, 
we plan to make this information public for the benefit of the 
entire electronics industry.
This is a collaborative effort between Apple, suppliers, and 
recycling vendors. We will continue to work with more module 
suppliers to continue this momentum, to share best practices, 
to continue to innovate on reducing waste, and to help our 
suppliers match with more capable recycling technologies 
— as we work to eliminate the waste generated while we 
manufacture our products.
In 2021, Apple and UL 
co-developed the first-
ever supply chain zero 
waste management 
system assurance 
program, which allows 
for third-party zero 
waste verification at a 
systems level rather 
than site level. The new 
assurance procedure 
significantly accelerates 
the verification process 
and establishes a new 
model that companies 
across industries 
can employ to verify 
zero waste programs 
at scale. 
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When we build a new store or facility, we 
set out to create a space that reflects our 
values — from creativity and innovation 
to respect for the environment. This 
approach applies to all of our sites, 
including offices, retail locations, and 
data centers.
We align our design and construction criteria to industry-
recognized best practices for green buildings, promoting water 
conservation, energy efficiency, and responsible material 
sourcing. Currently, 92 of our sites are LEED (Leadership 
in Energy and Environment Design) or BREEAM (Building 
Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) 
certified. That number grows each year as we develop more 
than 16 million square feet of green building space globally.
Designing buildings with 
the environment in mind
For our retail stores, we set out to have a minimal environmental 
impact. To that end, we’ve prioritized locations that make use 
of existing construction. This provides an opportunity to build 
a space that meets our needs while limiting materials and 
resources that may otherwise be used in new construction. 
We’ve focused on historical sites that can be reimagined to 
revitalize locations and the surrounding communities. Last 
year, we opened Apple Tower Theatre, a retail location, which 
housed the first motion picture theater in Los Angeles wired 
for film and sound when it opened in 1927. The restoration 
brought back to life a site that had lain empty and unused 
since 1987, creating an entirely new destination in downtown 
Los Angeles. Last May, in Rome, Italy, we opened Apple Via del 
Corso, the newest retail location nestled in one of city’s most 
vibrant areas. The store preserves the grand Palazzo Marignoli, 
paying homage to Rome’s rich history of art and culture, and 
making it one of Apple’s most significant restoration projects. 
These restorations contribute to maintaining the heritage of 
communities where we open locations, without the resources 
and carbon intensity that goes with new construction. 
In 2021, we opened Apple Bağdat Caddesi with environmental features, including natural lighting and rainwater capture. 
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In Istanbul, we opened Apple Bağdat Caddesi — our 
third retail location in Turkey — which marked significant 
environmental milestones in construction and design. During 
the store build-out, the project redirected 75 percent of 
construction and demolition materials from landfill. The 
location’s glass facade and skylight contribute to an energy 
savings of 22 percent, serving dual purposes of utilizing 
daylight to illuminate the space while connecting the site 
to the exterior environment. An on-site rainwater collection 
system, which treats and recycles water for toilet flushing and 
landscaping, will reduce water consumption by 45 percent off 
of the baseline. We’ve also been able to switch to a refrigerant 
with lower Global Warming Potential (GWP) than the baseline 
standard for LEED.
These efforts extend to our corporate offices and data 
centers. Our global footprint requires that we adapt to the 
needs of different locations and climates, while pursuing 
our overall objectives. This year, two new data centers 
in China — in Gui’an and Wulanchabu — received LEED 
Restorations like the Apple Tower Theatre in Los Angeles not only help maintain the heritage of communities, but also reduce the resource and 
carbon intensity associated with opening new retail stores.
Gold certification. These certifications recognized several 
achievements, such as up to 14 percent energy savings from 
features such as high-efficiency cooling systems, and about 
40 percent reduction in indoor water use through high-
efficiency fixtures. Both data centers make use of harvested 
rainwater for irrigation, further reducing water demand.
The COVID-19 pandemic continued to have an impact on 
how we manage our spaces. We’re evolving our approach to 
the new use patterns and capacity levels, actively adjusting 
our use of lighting and HVAC systems. For those who have 
already returned to our facilities, we’re constantly monitoring 
occupancy to determine what additional ventilation and air 
filtration are needed to protect our employees.
Our locations need to coexist with their environments while 
meeting our standards for human-centric design. To achieve 
this balance is a constant challenge — one that inspires 
creative solutions and novel approaches to urgent needs.
92 
Apple buildings 
worldwide are LEED 
or BREEAM certified 
for environmental 
performance.
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Smarter 
Chemistry
Mercury
PVC
Beryllium
BFR
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The well-being of our employees, customers, people in our supply chain, and the  
planet is a priority for Apple, which is why we’re committed to using safer materials 
to create safer products. This commitment requires diligent work — to build a 
comprehensive picture of chemicals across our supply chain, to insist on rigorous 
chemical management processes, to promote adoption of safer chemical alternatives, 
and to innovate through design smarter approaches to making our products. Using 
safer chemistry in our products also enables recycling and material recovery, so that  
our products can be the raw materials for the next generation.
Goals and 
progress
Integrate smarter chemistry  
innovation into the way we design  
and build our products
Safer Choice Partner  
of the Year award from 
the EPA for the second 
consecutive year
A+ rating received  
from the Mind the 
Store campaign1
Avoid exposure 
to chemicals that 
could be harmful  
to human health  
or the environment
100% of our 
final assembly 
supplier sites have 
used only safer 
alternative cleaners 
and degreasers 
since 2018
1000+ 
manufacturing 
partner facilities 
shared how 
chemicals 
are used and 
safely managed
Ranked #1 of 50 retailers  
on the Mind the Store 
Retailer Report Card 
Founding signatory 
of CEPN’s Toward 
Zero Exposure 
program to help 
eliminate electronics 
workers’ exposure to 
hazardous chemicals 
1000+ parts and 
material suppliers 
have been 
onboarded into 
Apple’s Full Material 
Disclosure program 
1000 new materials 
evaluated for 
biocompatibility in 
fiscal year 2021
A
1
Drive comprehensive reporting 
of chemicals used in our supply chain  
to make our products
45K+ materials 
included in our 
comprehensive 
material library
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We are dedicated to creating circular 
supply chains around our products. We 
start by sourcing recycled and renewable 
materials. Yet we also want the materials 
in our products to be recycled and used 
again. This goal is possible only if we 
deeply consider the chemicals we use. 
Through smarter chemistry, we identify 
chemicals that best serve all of our 
efforts, including safety, performance, 
and environmental impact. This process 
not only facilitates our efforts to create 
circular supply chains for our products, it 
also seeks to protect global communities 
impacted by waste. And our efforts to 
remove potentially harmful chemicals help 
create a safe and healthy workplace for 
the people in our supply chain.
These efforts also focus on limiting potentially harmful 
chemicals in the materials used to manufacture our products 
— and pushing our industry to follow suit. We’ve made 
considerable progress in accounting for the materials we use, 
both in our products and our manufacturing processes. This 
has allowed us to better protect the people who design, make, 
use, and recycle our devices — as we take steps to protect the 
environment. We’re doing this through close engagement with 
others, including leading members of the scientific community, 
NGOs, and industry organizations. This work extends beyond 
our products, as we push for a global transition to materials that 
are safer to use and reuse.
We’re proactive in promoting the use of safer materials and 
chemicals, establishing safety requirements that, in many 
cases, exceed local industry standards. And we empower our 
suppliers to not only meet these requirements, but also to find 
alternatives that are safer, are better for the environment, and 
deliver the performance we need. We’ve built an infrastructure 
to do this work, including the rigorous requirements defined in 
our Regulated Substances Specification (RSS) and the deep 
supply chain engagement through our Full Material Disclosure 
(FMD) and Chemical Safety Disclosure (CSD) programs. We 
also share what we’ve learned in the process of creating 
these systems with others in the industry — and push for 
transformational change.
This work requires leadership. We’re committed to advocating 
for safer and more sustainable materials made with smarter 
chemistry — and working with our suppliers and material 
manufacturers to create alternatives that can help move our 
industry forward.
Our approach
The pillars of our smarter  
chemistry strategy:
Mapping and engagement
Engage our supply chain partners to comprehensively identify the chemicals 
in the materials used to make our products, allowing us to drive change that 
goes beyond what is required for regulatory compliance.
Innovation
Drive the development and use of innovative materials that enable 
the creation of groundbreaking products and also support industry-
wide change.
Assessment and management
Assess the potential human health and environmental risks of chemicals to 
evaluate compliance with our requirements and inform product design. 
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Product Design
Apple selects and helps drive 
development of safer, high-
performance materials
Recycling
Recyclers can recover 
materials that are safer for 
use in new products
Manufacturing
Apple requires suppliers to 
manage chemicals and helps 
them switch to safer alternatives
Product use
Customers use products 
made with safer materials
Smarter chemistry matters 
at every stage in the 
product life cycle
Mapping and 
engagement
Our commitment to creating quality 
products also encompasses their health 
and environmental impacts. That means 
understanding the materials and the 
chemistries that go into them. This 
requires collaboration — to develop 
a clear picture of the chemicals in the 
materials used to make our products and 
make improvements. 
We’re doing this in a few ways. First, our Full Material Disclosure 
(FMD) program maps the chemicals used in our products. Then 
we look at how our products are manufactured. Our Chemical 
Safety Disclosure (CSD) program engages with supply chain 
partners to get up-to-date information on which materials are 
in use. This information includes the volume of materials being 
consumed, and how they’re being applied, stored, and handled 
— as well as the steps being taken to protect their employees. 
Our goal is to identify material chemistries that meet our 
criteria on performance, environmental impact, and safety. That 
requires a holistic view of the impacts of material chemistries at 
each phase in a product’s life, from design and manufacturing, 
to the customer experience, through recycling and material 
recovery. With early engagement and effective data collection, 
we’re best able to achieve these goals.
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And we’re leading in these efforts by doing the work required 
to understand the detailed chemical composition of the 
materials used to make our products and of the chemicals 
used during manufacturing. This effort requires working closely 
with our supply chain partners to understand the materials 
they use. And the information we gather is necessary to make 
the right decisions when it comes to potential toxicological 
risks. The way we effectively collaborate with our partners 
can help others in our industry take their own steps toward 
eliminating potentially harmful chemicals in their products and 
manufacturing processes. With progress across our industry, 
we can build circular economies at scale.
We’re comprehensively identifying  
the materials in our products 
Our process begins with gathering detailed and 
comprehensive information to inform our decision-making. 
Since it launched five years ago, the Full Material Disclosure 
(FMD) program aims to catalog and map each of the chemicals 
in the materials used in our products. Material manufacturers 
play a critical role in this program. They provide detailed 
reporting on material compositions from deep in our supply 
chain. This material chemistry data is proprietary. But once 
this data is shared through our innovative and secure data 
collection system, Apple has the information to make informed 
choices about the materials we use. Better choices based on 
better data are fundamental to delivering safer products. 
We require each of our suppliers to participate in the program, 
collectively sharing information on thousands of materials used 
to manufacture our products. We’ve also taken steps to make 
this process easier. Our advanced collection system provides 
suppliers with access to a library of over 45,000 materials, 
including detailed information that we have researched and 
validated. This materials library serves as a reference for 
our suppliers to help them better identify and describe the 
materials they use in our products. If the supplier is using a 
material not yet listed in our library, we work with them and the 
material manufacturer to authenticate the new material.
Through the FMD program, we’re creating a detailed inventory 
of the materials used to make our products. For iPhone, iPad, 
and Mac products released in fiscal year 2021, we collected 
detailed chemical information on 89 percent of each product 
by mass, on average. For the 24-inch iMac (2021), we collected 
information on more than 92 percent of the product by mass. 
Our efforts across product lines include tens of thousands 
of parts and assemblies. We also prioritize the collection of 
information on those materials that are key for biocompatibility. 
We continue to collect detailed chemical information for all 
materials that come under prolonged skin contact and require 
qualification from our biocompatibility team. 
The creation of our FMD program has been an innovative 
approach to a challenge faced across our industry. Identifying 
opportunities to reduce toxicological risk — and potentially 
develop new chemistries — requires deep knowledge. 
The comprehensive materials library provides an important 
foundation for this approach. It helps inform decisions across 
our product life cycle. We make assessments of the materials 
we specify, how we choose to manufacture our products, and 
eventually, how we recycle them. And we continue to innovate. 
We’re using machine learning to digitize data from chemical 
tests so this information can be more easily assessed. We’re 
also advocating for an industry standard to help encourage the 
digital exchange of this important information. Through these 
efforts, we can improve not only the safety of our products, but 
that of the broader electronics industry.
45,000 
materials are stored in  
our comprehensive  
materials library.
92% 
We collected detailed 
chemical information  
for 92% of the 24-inch  
iMac by mass.
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We’re also creating an inventory of 
chemicals used in manufacturing 
The health and safety of the people in our supply chain are 
our priority. The Apple Supplier Code of Conduct and Supplier 
Responsibility Standards outline our requirements for our 
suppliers in the areas of health and safety, labor and human 
rights, environment, ethics, and management systems. And we 
take into account how the process of selecting and managing 
chemicals used within our supply chain can impact the people 
working within our supply chain.
This begins with having the right information — not only the 
chemicals used by our suppliers as they make Apple products, 
but also how they are stored, handled, and consumed at each 
location. Our Chemical Safety Disclosure (CSD) program 
makes this possible. Suppliers provide this data as part of our 
program’s rigorous disclosure process. Once suppliers provide 
a chemical inventory, we’re able to help support compliance 
and identify opportunities to implement safer alternatives 
if needed. 
More than 1000 supplier facilities have shared their chemical 
inventories as well as storage and safety protocols. Through 
this process, we’ve identified more than 17,000 chemicals 
and applications. This extensive reporting includes suppliers 
representing the majority of Apple’s direct spend, including 
over 95 percent of Apple-managed suppliers in China. All of 
these efforts contribute to a safer work environment for people 
across our supply chain.
Comprehensive chemical mapping
Understanding chemical 
Understanding chemical 
ingredients
ingredients leads to better 
 leads to better 
materials for Apple products
materials for Apple products
Through our Full Material Disclosure (FMD) 
program, manufacturers share chemical 
ingredients used to make materials with Apple.
With FMD data, Apple evaluates the chemicals  
in materials against restrictions.
Apple 
Apple customers benefit
customers benefit 
from use of products made 
from use of products made 
with safer ingredients
with safer ingredients
The FMD and CSD programs help 
support creation of best-in-class 
products in a responsible manner  
for our customers.
Data helps Apple suppliers  
Data helps Apple suppliers  
manage chemicals
manage chemicals when  
 when  
making Apple products
making Apple products
Information on how chemicals are used, 
how they’re stored, and how employees are 
protected is shared with Apple by suppliers 
through our Chemical Safety Disclosure 
(CSD) program.
CSD data informs and prioritizes supplier 
engagement, helping to ensure rigorous 
chemical management practices and 
adoption of safer alternatives.
Mapping chemicals 
Mapping chemicals 
throughout product 
throughout product 
development leads to  
development leads to  
better, 
better, safer products
safer products
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With equipment like this gas chromatography–mass spectrometry system, we evaluate materials for substances restricted in our Regulated 
Substances Specification, including VOCs.
We’re working with suppliers  
to meet global requirements
Our role goes further than setting the requirements for our 
suppliers to meet. We’ve created systems that support 
ongoing efforts to track and assess the materials our suppliers 
use. Those frameworks not only help suppliers meet our 
requirements, but also help their operations follow global 
standards and regulations. The Full Material Disclosure 
(FMD) and Chemical Safety Disclosure (CSD) programs allow 
suppliers to gather and share information on chemistries 
they’re using. 
We support supplier engagement with these programs — 
 and the Regulated Substances Specification (RSS) — through 
ongoing training. This continued engagement is central to 
our partnership and to our shared efforts to promote smarter 
chemistry in our products and processes. In 2021, our suppliers 
in China worked under the new regulations governing the 
use of materials containing Volatile Organic Compounds 
(VOCs). While we already had requirements in place for select 
applications of these materials, we provided additional support 
for suppliers with trainings on the new regulations that were 
attended by more than 2000 participants. We went even 
further to support compliance by testing and qualifying over 
5000 low-VOC chemistries for use, helping our suppliers 
transition to these alternatives. And by deploying a new VOC 
specification worldwide, we’re also helping drive adoption of 
low-VOC alternatives around the world.
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We test products in liquids mimicking sweat to evaluate for biocompatibility.
The data we collect on chemicals and 
materials forms the foundation for 
key decisions that have an impact on 
our product designs, manufacturing 
processes, and approach to recycling and 
reuse. This data enables us to establish 
requirements for our suppliers, including 
those set in our Regulated Substances 
Specification (RSS) and the Restricted 
Chemicals for Prolonged Skin Contact 
Materials list. 
These requirements provide clear guidelines on potentially 
harmful materials, including those that are restricted. Our 
assessment system helps to ensure that only materials that 
meet our stringent requirements are used in Apple products. 
Both the data we gather on chemicals and our rigorous 
assessments allow us to make informed decisions and manage 
chemicals, for the safety of those who use, make, and recycle 
our products. These decisions also help make the materials 
recovered from our products at end-of-life safer for reuse in 
new products, enabling circular supply chains.
We’re setting — and maintaining — 
rigorous chemical safety requirements
We first published the Regulated Substances Specification 
(RSS) in 2002, setting requirements for the use of chemical 
substances or materials in our products, accessories, 
manufacturing processes, and packaging. This effort builds on 
our history of advancements in material safety — and it reflects 
our dedication to the collection of necessary data to make 
these choices.
The RSS continues to evolve alongside the latest research and 
standards. It draws from regulations, international standards, 
and voluntary requirements. The specification aligns with 
Apple’s internal policies, incorporates the latest scientific 
research, and is regularly updated with new chemicals and 
scopes of restrictions. Many of our RSS restrictions exceed 
local regulatory requirements in order to protect human health 
and the environment. The RSS both designates restricted 
substances and requires reporting on additional substances 
that are not restricted.
Assessment  
and management
We also leverage the diverse experience and expertise of 
our Green Chemistry Advisory Board members, who share 
feedback on key initiatives, like potential RSS updates. This 
independent group of leading researchers and academics 
helps to ensure that we’re leading the way to protect our 
customers and those who make or recycle our products.
We pay special attention to the materials that will be in 
prolonged skin contact, to which we apply rigorous controls 
defined in our Restricted Chemicals for Prolonged Skin 
Contact Materials (RCPSCM) list. In particular, the restrictions 
focus on substances that are potential skin sensitizers, to 
minimize the potential for reactions commonly reported across 
wearable products, like jewelry. We derive these restrictions 
from leading standards, recommendations from toxicologists 
and dermatologists, international laws and directives, and 
Apple policies. We require that our suppliers vet each material 
that comes into prolonged contact with skin according to 
Apple’s requirements, and further review compliance with 
these requirements. Our specifications are incorporated into 
contractual obligations for our suppliers, and each helps us 
maintain our stringent requirements.
Our restrictions on 
potentially harmful 
chemicals are available 
online in the Apple 
Regulated Substances 
Specification (PDF) and 
in Apple’s Restricted 
Chemicals for Prolonged 
Skin Contact Materials 
(PDF) list.
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In A Protocol for 
Prioritizing Chemicals 
of Concern in the 
Electronics Industry 
(PDF), we share a 
framework to help 
actors across industries 
systematically evaluate 
chemistries.
In our Environmental Testing Lab, our team of chemists evaluate new materials before they are used in Apple products.
We’re working on standards  
in the Environmental Testing Lab
At our Environmental Testing Lab, we evaluate the safety of 
our products and materials through chemical analyses. Our 
chemists test materials for safety and monitor compliance with 
our specifications. As we do this work, the Lab continues to 
grow in its mission and capacity. We’re expanding our testing 
facilities with new technologies to conduct chemical analysis 
as we expand our Full Material Disclosure (FMD) and Chemical 
Safety Disclosure (CSD) programs. Our teams also review test 
reports from suppliers to evaluate substances against the RSS 
and Restricted Chemicals for Prolonged Skin Contact Materials 
list. In fiscal year 2021, we performed toxicological assessments 
on 1000 new materials to proactively evaluate and eliminate 
potentially harmful substances from our products.
The data we collect from our disclosure programs drives 
our assessments. We’re able to generate comprehensive 
assessments, like GreenScreen®, a methodology we use to 
gauge the impact of chemicals on individual health and the 
environment based on 18 criteria. For new chemicals, we 
develop toxicological profiles, using both scientific literature 
and internal assessments. These profiles detail the features of 
each chemical, providing data that allows us to evaluate the 
safety of the use of a substance in a particular product. And, 
in 2021, we continued to expand the scope of biocompatibility 
testing beyond individual materials to include modules and 
whole products. This offers an even more comprehensive view 
of each product and details the impact that assembly has on 
overall safety. Within these products we perform toxicological 
evaluations of materials to help guide our evaluations of 
material safety. And what we share through the RSS and 
material specifications benefits our suppliers and those we 
collaborate with in the industry. 
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We’re creating a list of safer cleaners
An area where we are making an immediate impact is the 
application of cleaners and degreasers. These substances 
account for some of the highest-use materials at final 
assembly sites — and their chemistries have been the focus 
of considerable attention from regulators and environmental 
health and safety organizations. We’re investing in the due 
diligence required to identify preferred alternatives so that 
suppliers and others in the industry can also benefit.
We have decided to take a proactive approach that provides 
a list of cleaners and degreasers that are safer to use. We 
invested in the in-depth assessment and evaluation of these 
substances, incorporating leading guidance by GreenScreen® 
and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Safer Choice 
program. To date, we have evaluated and identified more than 
90 cleaners.
These efforts have a direct impact and the potential to change 
how our industry operates. We’re driving the use of safer 
alternatives for process chemicals in our supply chain by 
making it easier for suppliers to select preferred substitutions 
from the start. Since 2018, all our final assembly sites have 
used only safer alternative cleaners and degreasers. We’re also 
looking across a wider group of materials, including adhesives, 
dyes, and other high-volume materials used in our supply 
chain, to begin driving the adoption of safer alternatives for 
more and more materials. In 2020, we were the first consumer 
electronics company to receive the EPA Safer Choice Partner of 
the Year Award. And in 2021, we received this recognition again 
for our work to scale the use of safer process chemicals, and 
protect those working in our supply chain. 
We are also looking outside of our own supply chain to promote 
a broader transition to safer chemicals. See page 74 for more 
about how we’re advocating for safer cleaners and degreasers 
across our industry.
Since 2018, all our final assembly supplier sites have used only safer alternative cleaners and 
degreasers, protecting those working in our supply chain as well as the environment.
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We also aim to support 
a broader industry 
transition toward safer 
chemistry through the 
creation of industry tools. 
For example, we joined 
the nonprofit ChemSec, 
and other industry 
partners in an effort to 
develop ChemCoach, a 
step-by-step approach 
to help companies 
advance chemical safety 
within their products and 
supply chains. 
“Chemicals safety 
is a global, shared 
responsibility, so 
ChemSec is thrilled to 
have Apple and other 
industry leaders join in 
sharing these practical 
tools for adopting 
sustainable practice.
We hope this resource 
inspires more companies 
within the manufacturing 
industry to maximize the 
safety of their operations  
and products.” 
Anne-Sofie Bäckar, 
Executive Director  
at ChemSec
Innovation
We’re continuing to develop our 
knowledge of material properties to make 
improvements in chemical safety and also 
in the performance and environmental 
impact of the materials. When we assess 
substances considering these three  
factors together, it helps drive innovations 
that don’t require trade-offs.
The work we do in mapping, assessing, and managing the 
chemicals within our supply chain underpins our innovations. 
We rely on detailed information on the material properties, 
including toxicological data and environmental performance 
characteristics. We also look at how these materials are 
used at each point in the product life cycle, from design, 
to manufacturing, to end-of-life. This allows us to seek out 
and support the development of safer chemistries that have 
an impact on each phase — and contribute to continually 
improving the overall safety of our products and processes.
We’re innovating the designs and 
processes used to make our products
The earlier we focus on materials during product development, 
the more options we have along the way to make 
improvements through innovation. The criteria we consider — 
safety, performance, and environmental impact — represent 
our holistic approach to smarter chemistry: designing to our 
customers’ needs, so that our products exceed expectations, 
while being safer for use, reuse, and recycling.
The process of choosing both the substances we design into 
our products and those our suppliers use in manufacturing 
is foundational to achieving these goals. We rely on our 
comprehensive chemical profiles of each material to inform 
these choices. When a material is introduced into our supply 
chain, our CSD and FMD programs help provide information 
to assess a substance and its suitability. Our toxicological 
assessments look at each chemical within a material, with a 
particular focus on those that come into prolonged contact 
with skin. We also look at the conditions that the material is 
used within, to make recommendations that reflect the existing 
controls around a substance. As we select the materials to 
include in our products, we assess the process chemicals 
required with each design choice. We work proactively 
with our suppliers to help ensure that their employees are 
protected through proper storage, handling, and material 
application controls.
And, finally, we consider what happens when our products 
reach their end-of-life. We work to protect those recycling our 
products and prevent potential releases into the environment 
during the recycling process. We monitor chemistries that are 
harmless in small quantities but become more concentrated 
through recycling cycles. We also look at how potentially 
harmful substances impact the recyclability of a material. This 
can lead to downcycling — use of the material in lower-quality 
applications — or could make the material unsafe for any use.
Through our efforts to share information across our supply 
chain, perform detailed chemical assessments, and partner 
with suppliers on chemical management, we unlock material 
science innovations that lead to better products. This not 
only protects those who make and use our products, but also 
enables the reuse of key materials. By keeping potentially 
harmful chemicals out of our supply chain at the outset, we 
make it possible for ourselves and others to recover materials 
for the next generation of products.
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Substances we keep out of our products*
PVC and phthalates 
Replaced with safer thermoplastic 
elastomers. Both are still used by 
other companies in power cords 
and headphone cables. 
Brominated flame 
retardants (BFRs) 
Eliminated from thousands of  
parts such as enclosures, cables, 
circuit boards, and connectors 
in 2008. We use safer metal 
hydroxides and phosphorus 
compounds in their place.
Mercury 
Eliminated from displays in  
2009. We use energy-efficient, 
mercury-free LEDs and OLEDs 
instead of mercury-based 
fluorescent lamps in all our displays. 
Lead 
Phased out of display glass  
and solder in 2006.
Arsenic 
Eliminated from display glass  
since 2008. Arsenic was 
traditionally used in glass.
Beryllium  
Eliminated from all new product 
designs. Beryllium is found in 
copper alloys used to make 
connectors and springs.
PFOA and PFOS 
Eliminated PFOA and PFOS from our 
products, with RSS restrictions added in 
2010 and 2013 respectively. These types 
of chemicals are commonly used in the 
manufacturing of water-resistant materials. 
We’re creating new safer chemistries 
to move the industry forward
Safer materials are a priority for our business — and we’ve 
used our procurement process to encourage our suppliers to 
share this priority. Our strict requirements governing potentially 
harmful substances in our products and processes have 
helped create a market for safer alternatives. We’re working 
with our suppliers to meet this demand, lending the expertise 
we’ve developed to create safer chemistries where none exist. 
We’ve also begun to phase out chemistries that don’t meet our 
specifications. This work isn’t limited to our company or our 
products. We’re trying to catalyze change across our industry 
by investing in safer alternatives. By promoting the use of safer 
and cleaner chemistries now, we’re supporting the circular 
supply chains of the future.
We’ve collaborated with others on this goal, using our extensive 
research and analysis of materials to enable our suppliers to 
find safer alternatives. If an alternative has yet to be created, 
we lend our technical capabilities in material science as we 
work with our suppliers to develop entirely new chemistries. 
These new alternative materials face the same rigorous testing 
and evaluation against our high safety, performance, and 
environmental standards.
*	 Apple’s Regulated Substances Specification describes Apple’s restrictions on the use of certain chemical substances in materials in Apple products, accessories, manufacturing processes, and packaging 
used for shipping products to Apple’s end-customers. Restrictions are derived from international laws or directives, regulatory agencies, eco-label requirements, environmental standards, and Apple policies. 
Apple products are free of PVC and phthalates with the exception of AC power cords in India, Thailand (for 2-prong AC power cords), and South Korea, where we continue to seek government approval for our 
PVC and phthalates replacement. Apple products comply with the European Union Directive 2011/65/EU and its amendments, including exemptions for the use of lead. Apple is working to phase out the use of 
these exempted substances where technically possible.
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And we have a long history of leading in the identification and 
successful removal of potentially harmful substances. We’ve 
done so since the late 1990s, rigorously assessing chemicals 
and removing those that don’t align with our goals. We phased 
out brominated flame retardants (BFRs) before this practice 
became a requirement and industry standard. Starting in 
2010, we restricted the use of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid 
(PFOS) through our RSS, and in 2013 added restrictions 
for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). We were proactive on 
this, taking action ahead of global requirements because 
research showed that these chemicals remain persistent in the 
environment. Each phaseout we undertake requires developing 
alternatives, whether creating safer compounds to replace 
potentially harmful chemistries or replacing components with 
alternatives that meet our safety standards. In some cases, 
we’ve redesigned our products to eliminate the need for parts 
that incorporate potentially harmful chemistries.
Our work has been recognized. Apple has received an  
A+ rating from Mind the Store, an external campaign that 
evaluates the largest retailers in North America on how they 
ensure the chemical safety of their products and packaging, for 
the past three years.2 We also ranked #1 of 50 retailers on the 
Mind the Store Retailer Report Card.3 
We’re advocating for safer  
alternatives across our industry
As we work toward minimizing potentially harmful chemistries 
in our products and processes, we’re also making the 
transition to safer alternatives accessible to others. Much of 
our focus centers on cleaners and degreasers — and building 
out a safer cleaners innovation ecosystem through multiple 
efforts. In 2021, Apple became a founding signatory of the 
Clean Electronics Production Network’s (CEPN) Toward 
Zero Exposure program. CEPN, a multi-stakeholder initiative 
led by the NGO Green America, developed the Toward 
Zero Exposure platform to accelerate companies’ efforts 
to eliminate the potential for worker exposure to hazardous 
chemicals, and boost awareness of the need to improve 
chemical management practices across the global electronics 
manufacturing industry. Apple contributed to developing 
CEPN’s list of priority chemicals for substitution and has already 
eliminated the use of these nine chemicals in our supply chain.
We’re also developing a new standard around cleaners —  
IPC-1402 — to define more clearly what qualifies as a “green” 
cleaner in electronics manufacturing. The standard builds 
on our success in managing cleaners used for final product 
assembly and applies that knowledge for cleaners used deeper 
in the supply chain at module and sub-assembly sites. We’re 
aiming to reach both the chemistry and toxicology experts that 
conduct material assessments and the electronics engineering 
teams to lay out expectations on the use of safer cleaners. Our 
work on this standard is a collaborative effort involving more 
than 20 companies, which we expect to introduce in 2022. 
Last year, we also supported the development of a new 
certification for assessing the safety of cleaners used in the 
electronics industry and beyond in partnership with Clean 
Production Action (CPA) — a globally recognized NGO 
advocating for green chemicals and sustainable materials. 
The GreenScreen Certified™ for Cleaners & Degreasers is a 
free and publicly available tool to assess and promote safer 
chemicals. It’s part of an effort to drive broader, industry-
wide change by making information about safer alternatives 
readily available to companies globally. We’ve used the leading 
GreenScreen tool, as well as the EPA Safer Choice criteria, 
within our supply chain, leading to the transition of 100 percent 
of our final assembly sites to safer alternatives for cleaners and 
degreasers. The creation of a new certification will allow other 
companies beyond our supply chain to better protect workers 
making electronics products around the world.
We’re also partnering with NGOs to make information about 
these materials readily available throughout the electronics 
industry. One effort is ChemFORWARD, a nonprofit 
collaboration of brands, retailers, suppliers, and environmental 
organizations that share high-quality, actionable chemical 
hazard assessment data via a globally harmonized repository. 
With ChemFORWARD, we’ll share our list of safe cleaners and 
degreasers and our evaluation framework with companies 
beyond our suppliers and even our industry.
Apple signed on as a 
founding member of 
the Clean Electronics 
Production Network’s 
(CEPN) Toward Zero 
Exposure program — 
an initiative that seeks 
to eliminate workers’ 
exposure to hazardous 
chemicals. 
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Contribute to 
change beyond 
our direct corporate 
footprint  
Engagement
Introduction    Climate Change    Resources    Smarter Chemistry    Engagement    Appendix
2022 Environmental Progress Report  75

Apple is committed to creating positive environmental impact. This includes the 
environmental challenges our world faces that extend far beyond our footprint as a 
company. As a member of the global community, we see it as part of our responsibility 
to engage with stakeholders doing impactful work directed at these challenges. This 
means working with others, learning from their feedback, and providing support where 
we can make a difference. We take advantage of opportunities to effect change both 
within and beyond our operations and supply chain. Engagement also allows us to 
respond to the world around us, looking for ways to play a positive role in the industries, 
issues, and communities where our involvement can be transformative.
Our approach
Working with our stakeholders
We can better achieve a 
transformative impact 
within our industry and for 
global communities when 
we work alongside a diverse 
group of stakeholders.
Policymakers 
and regulators
Scientific  
community
NGOs & nonprofit  
organizations
Community  
leaders
Standards  
bodies 
Peer  
companies 
Suppliers
Employees
Customers
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2022 Environmental Progress Report  76
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We’re in conversation with 
stakeholders around the world
Through active engagement, we hear from stakeholders 
who bring different points of view and understanding 
of the issues we care about. Our conversations with 
policymakers, nonprofits, and community leaders help inform 
our understanding of how regulations, methods, and new 
technologies are evolving. They also help us learn, improve, 
and find new opportunities to overcome barriers to our 
environmental goals. We take action based on what we  
learn, whether that means aligning with the latest standards 
and best practices, or understanding the implications for 
cutting-edge research on our operations.
Just this year, we conducted more than a dozen roundtables on 
environmental topics across the U.S., Europe, and China with 
key stakeholders, including members of academia and industry 
associations, to understand issues and regulations region by 
region. These forums also allowed us to share information on 
our efforts and understand where enhanced transparency 
would support those directly working on policy. 
We’re also working with the scientific community to understand 
new approaches and cutting-edge tools that can help us 
achieve our environmental goals. This includes our work with 
researchers at Carnegie Mellon University developing robotic 
recycling systems to enhance material recovery for Apple 
and others. We also continue to engage our Green Chemistry 
Advisory Board, an independent group including toxicologists 
and experts who advise on our smarter chemistry initiatives.
Through engagement, we refine our approach and work to 
industry standards and best practices. We look to cross-sector 
engagement platforms to help guide our programs and set 
standards for environmental efforts. In one initiative, we’ve 
achieved Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) certification 
for a number of key Apple and supplier facilities, relying on the 
AWS’s expertise in defining world-class water stewardship 
practices. We’re also partnering with forestry experts at 
Conservation International as we invest in working forests 
through our Restore Fund.
The voices from within the business community, including 
our customers, employees, suppliers, industry partners, 
and investors, also motivate us to find ways we can support 
one another’s environmental goals and push our efforts 
even further. As co-chairs of the United States Information 
Technology Office (USITO), a trade association representing 
the United States information and communications technology 
industry in China, we lead the environmental protection and 
energy efficiency working groups. In this role, we engage with 
other companies in China as we work to comply with new 
environmental regulation and engage with policymakers on 
future standards. We continually look for more opportunities 
to work with others — at an industry and national level — to 
receive feedback and make progress.
Achieving  
change together
Isabel Ge Mahe, Vice President and Managing Director for Apple Greater China speaks at the 
ceremony where Apple, the Suzhou Industrial Park Administrative Committee, and TEDA Eco Center 
signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This collaboration aimed to support Suzhou 
Industrial Park in becoming the world’s first industrial park to achieve certification to the Alliance for 
Water Stewardship (AWS) standard.
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To see more of 
the groups Apple 
partners with, 
please see to 
Appendix G.
We’re supporting broader  
change across industries
An important part of our role within our industry is to influence 
change. Our industry can best achieve results through 
collective action on key environmental issues. And Apple can 
better realize our goals on climate, resources, and smarter 
chemistry when we actively share our experience and 
contribute to industry-wide improvements. 
To facilitate efforts beyond our footprint, we engage in dozens 
of industry initiatives to share what we have learned and find 
new opportunities to advocate for change. As part of these 
partnerships and coalitions, we make direct contributions to 
the broader industry by creating tools and standards, and 
by pursuing policy objectives that support our shared goals. 
For example, as a co-design partner in ChemFORWARD, 
we’re supporting the creation of a registry to expand the 
use of safer cleaners and degreasers, a part of our efforts 
to limit toxic chemical exposure and advance human and 
environmental equity.
Policy plays a key role in industry change, as well. And we 
actively advocate for policies that advance environmental 
objectives, from tackling climate change to enhancing material 
recovery. Learn more about our efforts on climate policy,  
page 31, and resource recovery policy, page 51.
When it comes to taking action on environmental challenges, 
collective action matters. Which is why we’re also making 
public commitments alongside our partners to signal the kind 
of change we are working to create. And by being transparent 
about our progress against these commitments, we hold 
ourselves and our partners accountable. We believe collective 
action can help us both address environmental challenges 
directly and serve as a catalyst for others to act. 
Key industry engagements 
Stakeholder
Our Engagement
Aluminium Stewardship 
Initiative
Supporting responsible sourcing within the aluminum  
value chain; recently completed an audit against their 
Performance Standard of environmental, social, and 
governance criteria. (Member)
Ceres
Dedicated to taking action to stabilize the climate, protect 
water and natural resources, and build a just and inclusive 
economy. (Member of the Ceres company network)
ChemFORWARD 
Working to advance safer chemistry in product design 
and manufacturing. (Co-design partner, chair of Technical 
Advisory Group)
China Association of 
Circular Economy (CACE)
Sharing our best practices in their conferences and 
workshops and partnering with the organization on advocacy 
efforts focused on recycling and waste. (Senior member)
Clean Electronics 
Production Network (CEPN)
Working to improve chemical safety in the electronics supply 
chain as part of this multi-stakeholder initiative. (Member of 
the design team)
Clean Energy Buyers 
Alliance (CEBA)
Promoting customer-driven clean energy use.  
(Member, serving on the Supply Chain and International 
Collaboration working group)
Japan Climate Leaders’ 
Partnership 
Aligning business objectives with climate goals.  
(Executive member)
MIT Climate and 
Sustainability Consortium 
(MCSC)
Galvanizing the business community to have an impact  
on broad and intersecting environmental challenges. 
(Industry Advisory Board Member)
Platform for Accelerating the 
Circular Economy (PACE)
Joining global leaders in the effort to transition to a circular 
economy. (Member of the board)
RE100
Showing our commitment to 100% renewable energy. 
(Member of the RE100 Advisory Committee)
Responsible Business 
Alliance (RBA)
Dedicated to corporate social responsibility in global supply 
chains. (Full member, serving on the RBA Board of Directors 
and steering committee of the Responsible Minerals Initiative)
World Business Council for 
Sustainable Development 
(WBCSD)
A community of the world’s leading sustainable businesses 
working toward a net zero, nature positive, and more equitable 
future. (Member)
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At the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), 
we affirmed our support of the Clean Energy Demand Initiative 
(CEDI) launched by the U.S. State Department, which seeks to 
advance clean energy goals through corporate clean energy 
commitments. Through another energy initiative, RE100, we’ve 
committed to 100 percent renewable electricity with members 
in markets across the globe. We also pledged to move to 
sustainable aviation fuel equal to 5 percent of our passenger 
air travel footprint by 2030 as part of the First Movers Coalition, 
a new platform for companies to create market demand for 
low-carbon technologies. We’re investing in forestry and 
carbon removal, as well, backing projects that offer a financial 
return for investors and participating in initiatives, including 
The Forest Investor Club. (See page 29 for more detail on our 
Restore Fund.) And we continue to support the Paris Climate 
Agreement through the Race to Zero, a campaign to halve 
global emissions by 2030 through transparent action plans and 
robust near-term targets. This includes our role as a signatory 
to America Is All In, a declaration by 3800 state, tribal, local, and 
business leaders to meet the Paris Climate Agreement’s goals.
We’re also making commitments to address issues beyond 
climate change, including chemical safety and reducing the 
amount of plastics in our products. We’ve joined the Toward 
Zero Exposure program with the Clean Electronics Production 
Network (CEPN), a multi-stakeholder initiative working to 
address health and safety challenges in the electronics supply 
chain. With the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, we’ve pledged to 
eliminate plastics from our packaging by 2025.
We’re collaborating with others  
to effect change in communities
Engagement also means collaborating with those who have 
been addressing environmental injustice in their communities. 
There are opportunities for us to play a part in helping others 
achieve change. And we can also learn from the experiences 
of those working directly on these issues. We strive to integrate 
their points of view into our environmental approach, to respect 
their voices, and where possible, provide a broader context for 
them to be heard. 
We also have an opportunity to contribute beyond our direct 
corporate operations — and outside our areas of expertise. 
This is where some of the most vital opportunities to support 
transformational change for communities can be found. We’ve 
only just begun supporting those leading this important work, 
but we aim to contribute to the change these organizations 
are creating. We determine our grants based on the focus of 
each organization and their potential to affect change. And we 
recognize the importance of community-driven leadership on 
many issues by providing support where our contributions will 
yield results.
Environmental justice groups have played a significant and 
vital role in advancing communities. To honor the ongoing 
commitment of these organizations, we’ve made grants 
to minority-led and centered organizations that focus on 
environmental issues. Recent recipients include the Hispanic 
Access Foundation, which is working to address environmental 
hazards directly affecting the Latino community and establish 
bridges that provide equal access to a more healthy, natural 
environment, and First Nations Development Institute, which 
supports ecological stewardship and environmental justice 
within the Indigenous community. We’ve also supported 
NDN Collective, Outdoor Afro, the Deep South Center for 
Environmental Justice, and others.
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Apple supports the 
National Park Foundation, 
which has provided 
more than 1,000,000 
U.S. students access to 
national parks.
With support from Apple and other partners, the National Park Foundation launched the ParkVentures program, investing in equity-focused 
outdoor leaders and organizations. Photo credit: Young Masterminds, Inc.
Through giving, we can also catalyze nascent projects and 
technologies that may help the industry over the long term 
or simply contribute to other meaningful environmental 
causes. With the Alliance for Brazil, we’re supporting efforts 
to restore areas within the Amazon forest that are under 
threat from forest fires. The Alliance’s reforestation work also 
includes training and outreach programs to empower local 
communities in protection and governance practices, while 
developing and strengthening livelihood models that support 
economic development. 
We also support the National Park Foundation in the U.S., 
which has provided more than 1,000,000 students with 
meaningful national park experiences since 2011, encouraging 
young people to connect with the natural world. In addition, 
we’re backing the Foundation’s work to advance outdoor 
equity by eliminating barriers and promoting access. And in 
the Chyulu Hills region of Kenya, we’re supporting community 
empowerment programs for Maasai smallholder farmers, 
including educational scholarships for local students as well as 
pastureland management training.
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“On our journey to our 2030 carbon neutral goal for our 
supply chain and products, we’re determined to help 
create a greener and more equitable future for all people. 
The businesses we’re partnering with today are poised to 
become tomorrow’s diverse and innovative industry leaders, 
creating ripples of change to help communities everywhere 
adapt to the urgent challenges posed by climate change.”
Lisa Jackson 
Apple’s vice president  
of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives
As we work toward a cleaner economy, 
we want to ensure that companies that 
traditionally have not been included in the 
financial growth that comes with change 
are not left out. We’re taking steps to make 
sure that businesses led by people of color 
are positioned to benefit from investments 
in environmental solutions.
Last year, we welcomed the first class to our Impact 
Accelerator, a training and mentorship program for Black-, 
Hispanic/Latinx-, and Indigenous-owned businesses 
headquartered in the United States that share our focus on 
innovation and our commitment to the environment. Part of 
Apple’s Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, the Accelerator 
aims to help combat systemic barriers to opportunity, while 
also advancing innovative solutions for communities most 
impacted by climate change. We selected our first class of 15 
businesses on the cutting edge of green technology and clean 
energy to begin the program in August 2021. Each company 
selected is at least 51 percent owned, operated, and controlled 
by a Black-, Hispanic/Latinx-, or Indigenous individual and 
aligns closely with our environmental strategy, including our 
commitment to become carbon neutral by 2030. Many share 
a specific focus on bringing clean energy, opportunity, and vital 
services to vulnerable and underserved communities.
The three-month program included live virtual sessions, online 
courses on supply chain management, supplier diversity, 
financial and legal subjects, as well as one-on-one mentorship 
with an Apple expert on topics from renewable energy to 
responsible sourcing. The program culminated in Demo Week, 
an opportunity for participants to pitch decision-makers and 
business leaders within Apple. Following the program, every 
business was given the opportunity to attend a minority 
business executive leadership program through leading 
universities, and each participant has since engaged with our 
competitive services procurement process. These businesses 
then transitioned to Apple’s Supplier Success community, to 
further foster the connections developed during the program. 
The goal of the Impact Accelerator is to better position the 
participating companies for growth, to improve their abilities to 
take on larger contracts, and to expand their customer base  
— all while fostering their environmental commitment. By 
making connections between innovators, both in our inaugural 
class and at Apple, we’re creating opportunities to support our 
shared goals. For example, last October we announced that we 
will be working with the Oceti Sakowin Power Authority, formed 
by six Sioux tribes to jointly develop tribal renewable energy 
resources, on a project to create a wind power development in 
the Midwest. And following the success of this year’s class, our 
efforts continue. This spring, applications opened for the next 
class to join our Impact Accelerator.
Apple’s Impact 
Accelerator
Impact Accelerator participant Karl Johnson leads Detroit-based Diversified Chemical Technologies, Inc., 
which promotes excellence, sustainability, and social responsibility in their chemical manufacturing.
2022 Environmental Progress Report  81
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Holding ourselves  
accountable  
to our progress  
Appendix
2022 Environmental Progress Report  82
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Appendix A:  
Environmental data
84
Greenhouse gas emissions
84
Apple’s life cycle assessment methodology
85
Energy
86
Resources
87 
Normalizing factors
88
Appendix B:  
Corporate facilities energy supplement
89
Appendix C:  
Assurance and review statements
100
Gross comprehensive carbon  
footprint (Fraunhofer Institute)
101
Product end use program data (Apex) 
106
Facilities energy, carbon, waste, paper,  
and water data (Apex)
108
Supplier clean energy program (Apex)
111
Supplier clean energy efficiency program (Apex) 
113
Packaging plastic footprint (Fraunhofer Institute)
115
Comprehensive fiber footprint (Fraunhofer Institute)
118
Appendix D:  
Environment, Health, and Safety Policy
121
Appendix E:  
ISO 14001 certification	

122
Report notes 
124
End notes 
126
Appendix
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Fiscal year
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Corporate emissions1 
(metric tons CO2e)
Scope 1 (gross emissions)
55,200
47,430
52,730
57,440
47,050
Natural gas, diesel, propane
40,070
39,340
40,910
42,840
36,210
Fleet vehicles
12,090
4,270
6,950
11,110
8,300
Process emissions2
3,040
3,830
4,870
3,490
2,540
Scope 2 (market-based)
2,780
0
0
8,730
36,250
Electricity
0
0
0
8,730
36,250
Steam, heating, and cooling3 
2,780
-
-
-
-
Scope 3 (gross emissions)4
23,130,000
22,550,000
24,980,000
25,070,000
27,330,000
Business travel5
22,850
153,000
326,000
337,000
121,000
Employee commute6
85,570
134,000
195,000
183,000
172,000
Corporate carbon offsets7
-167,000
-70,000
-
-
-
Product life 
cycle emissions8  
(metric tons CO2e)
Manufacturing (purchased goods 
and services)
16,200,000
16,100,000
18,900,000
18,500,000
21,100,000
Product transportation  
(upstream and downstream)
1,750,000
1,800,000
1,400,000
1,300,000
1,200,000
Product use (use of sold products)
4,990,000
4,300,000
4,100,000
4,700,000
4,700,000
End-of-life treatment
80,000
60,000
60,000
50,000
40,000
Product carbon offsets9
-500,000
-
-
-
-
Total gross carbon footprint (without offsets)10  
(metric tons CO2e)
23,200,000
22,600,000
25,100,000
25,200,000
27,500,000
Total net carbon footprint (after applying offsets)10  
(metric tons CO2e)
22,530,000
22,530,000
25,100,000
25,200,000
27,500,000
Appendix A
Greenhouse  
gas emissions
1.	 Apple is carbon neutral for corporate emissions as of April 2020. 
2.	 Emissions from R&D processes.
3.	 Beginning in FY2021, we’re accounting for scope 2 emissions from the purchase of district heating, 
chilled water, and steam.
4.	 In fiscal year 2017, we started calculating scope 3 emissions not listed above. In fiscal year 2021, 
these include electricity transmission and distribution losses amounted to about 28,000 metric 
tons CO2e and life cycle emissions associated with renewable energy amounted to about 
95,000 metric tons CO2e. We have not accounted for emissions resulting from employees working 
from home, because we anticipated these emissions are small relative to our carbon footprint and 
we are still evolving our methodology. 
5.	 We regularly revisit our methodology to hold ourselves to high accountability standards. So in fiscal 
year 2018, we changed how we calculate emissions from business travel in order to better account 
for classes of service in air travel. As a result of this change, our scope 3 transportation emissions 
increased by 77 percent between 2017 and 2018. Without the methodology change, these 
emissions would have increased by 14 percent, which reflects the growth in our business.
6.	 Beginning in fiscal year 2020, we updated our methodology to reflect the impact of COVID-19 on 
employee commute.
7.	 We retired 167,000 metric tons of carbon credits from the Chyulu Hills project in Kenya to maintain 
carbon neutrality for our corporate emissions in fiscal year 2021. This project is certified to the VCS 
and CCB standards.
8.	 Because we’re committed to accuracy and transparency, we regularly refine our product life cycle 
assessment model and sources of data. For example, we recently obtained more granular data 
summarizing in which countries our products are sold and used, resulting in more granularity 
possible for grid emission factors used in the carbon footprint of the product use phase. The  
net result was an increase in our 2021 carbon footprint. When using the same level of data 
granularity and model as 2021, our product use carbon emissions in 2021 would have been about 
2.5 percent lower.
9.	 For fiscal year 2021, we retired credits from the Chyulu Hills project in Kenya, and purchased 
carbon credits from two additional projects to offset a total of 500,000 metric tons of direct 
emissions across our value chain. The first project, a REDD+ coastal conservation project in 
Guatemala, protects and conserves forests from deforestation and degradation. The second 
project aims to establish forests on about 46,000 hectares of barren land that is not otherwise 
in use across seven counties in the Guizhou Province of China. Both projects are certified to the 
same high standards that we require for projects in the Restore Fund, including VCS and CCBS. 
These projects are all certified to the VCS and CCB standards.
10.	Due to rounding, our gross and net carbon footprints do not always the sum of the subtotals 
disclosed above. 
	
Notes: For data on previous years, please reference past Environmental Progress Reports, 
available at apple.com/environment. Dash indicates data that are not available. Due to rounding, 
totals may not be the sum of the subtotals above.
2022 Environmental Progress Report  84
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Apple uses five steps when conducting a product life cycle 
assessment (LCA):
1.	
To model the manufacturing phase, we use part-by-part 
measurements of the entire product along with data on 
part production. The measurements help us accurately 
determine the size and weight of the components and 
materials in the product, while data on manufacturing 
processes and yield loss during production allows us 
to account for the impact of manufacturing. The LCA 
includes accessories and packaging, as well as decreased 
emissions through Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy Program. 
When calculating Apple’s comprehensive carbon footprint, 
we also include units that are repaired and replaced 
through AppleCare.
2.	 To model customer use, we measure the power consumed 
by a product while it is running in a simulated scenario. 
Daily usage patterns are specific to each product and are 
a mixture of actual and modeled customer use data. For 
the purposes of our assessment, years of use, which are 
based on first owners, are modeled to be four years for 
macOS and tvOS devices and three years for iOS, iPadOS, 
and watchOS devices. Most Apple products last longer 
and are often passed along, resold, or returned to Apple 
by the first owner for others to use. More information 
on our product energy use is provided in our Product 
Environmental Reports.
3.	 To model transportation, we use data collected on 
shipments of single products and multipack units by 
land, sea, and air. We account for transporting materials 
between manufacturing sites; transporting products 
from manufacturing sites to regional distribution hubs; 
transporting products from regional distribution hubs to 
individual customers; and transporting products from final 
customers to recycling facilities.
4.	 To model end of life, we use material composition data on 
our products and estimate the ratio of products that are 
sent to recycling or disposal. For products sent to recycling, 
we capture the initial processing by the recycler to prepare 
the product for recovery of electronic, metal, plastic, and 
glass material streams. Subsequent downstream recycling 
processes are not included, as these are considered 
stages of production and not end‑of‑life processing. 
For products sent to disposal, we capture the emissions 
associated with landfilling or incineration of each type 
of material.
5.	 After we collect data about manufacturing, use, 
transportation, and end of life, we combine it with detailed 
greenhouse gas emission data. This emission data is based 
on a combination of Apple-specific and industry-average 
datasets for material production, manufacturing processes, 
electricity generation, and transportation. Renewable 
energy used in the supply chain, initiated by suppliers 
independently or through the Apple Supplier Clean Energy 
Program, is also accounted for within the LCA model. 
Combining product-specific information with emission 
data in our LCA allows us to compile detailed results for 
greenhouse gas emissions as they relate to each product. 
The data and modeling approaches are checked for quality 
and accuracy by the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany.
There is inherent uncertainty in modeling carbon emissions due 
primarily to data limitations. For the top component contributors 
to Apple’s carbon emissions, Apple addresses this uncertainty 
by developing detailed process-based environmental models 
with Apple-specific parameters. For the remaining elements 
of Apple’s carbon footprint, we rely on industry average data 
and assumptions.
Apple’s life cycle 
assessment methodology
Appendix A
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Fiscal year
Unit
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Corporate facilities energy use
Electricity
Total
MWh
2,854,000
2,580,000
2,427,000
2,182,000
1,832,000
U.S.
MWh
2,377,000
2,192,000
2,075,000
1,830,000
1,536,000
International
MWh
477,000
389,000
351,000
351,000
296,000
Fuel
Total
MWh
467,280
439,170
462,680
494,460
420,650
Natural gas
MWh
203,010
202,360
202,340
204,970
174,420
Biogas
MWh
208,620
210,820
217,140
226,660
193,280
Propane liquid
MWh
40
140
280
280
280
Gasoline
MWh
34,880
14,910
23,950
37,740
31,310
Diesel (other)
MWh
9,780
9,610
16,450
20,270
20,670
Diesel (mobile combustion)
MWh
10,950
1,330
2,520
4,540
690
Other
Steam, heating, and cooling1
MWh
22,480
-
-
-
-
Energy efficiency2
Corporate facilities
Electricity savings3
MWh/year
260,390
244,690
208,640
113,200
69,980
Fuel savings
mmBTU/year
299,780
297,090
277,120
254,140
245,340
Supplier facilities3
Electricity savings
MWh/year
1,418,825,350 1,101,440
943,890
798,930
473,510
Fuel savings
mmBTU/year
1,047,440
752,680
25,120
25,120
5,620
Renewable electricity
Corporate facilities
Renewable electricity use
MWh
2,854,000
2,580,000
2,430,000
2,170,000
1,770,000
% Renewable electricity4
percent of total energy
100%
100%
100%
99%
97%
Scope 2 emissions avoided
metric tons CO₂e
1,063,720
948,000
899,000
690,000
589,000
Supply chain5
Renewable electricity capacity (operational) GW
10.3
4.5
2.7
1.9
1.2
Renewable electricity capacity (committed)
GW
15.9
7.9
5.1
3.3
2
Renewable electricity use
MWh
18,100,000
11,400,000
5,700,000
4,100,000
1,900,000
Energy
	
Notes: For data on years prior to 2017, please reference past Environmental Progress Reports, 
available at www.apple.com/environment
	
Dash indicates data that are not available. 
1. 	 Beginning in FY2021, we’re accounting for the purchase of district heating, chilled water, 
and steam.
2. 	 Because energy efficiency measures have lasting benefits, energy efficiency savings are calculated 
cumulatively since 2012. All efficiency measures are retired based on their effective useful lifetime 
as documented by the California Energy Commission. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, corporate 
facilities energy use declined temporarily as we adjusted lighting and climate controls due to 
shutdowns and reduced occupancy. These savings are not included in the total savings from 
our energy efficiency program initiatives. We also recognize that energy use at our employees’ 
homes likely increased during this period. We have not accounted for this energy use, because 
we anticipated this impact is small relative to our overall energy use and we are still evolving 
our methodology. 
3. 	 Energy savings from supplier energy efficiency improvements are reported as annualized annual 
numbers. Prior to 2020, supplier energy savings are calculated on a calendar year basis. Beginning 
in 2020, supplier energy savings are calculated based on the fiscal year. 
4. 	 Beginning January 1, 2018, 100 percent of the electricity we use to power our global facilities is 
sourced from renewable energy.
5:  Supply chain renewable electricity capacity (operational) and renewable electricity use for FY2021 
do not include REC purchases Apple made, equivalent to 0.3 GW and 500,000 MWh, respectively, 
to address a small increase to its carbon footprint.
 
Appendix A
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Fiscal year
KPI
Unit
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Water
Corporate facilities
Total
million gallons
1,407
1,287
1,291
1,258
1,000
Freshwater1
million gallons
1,259
1,168
1,178
1,190
973
Recycled water2
million gallons
141
113
106
63
24
Other alternative sources3
million gallons
7
5
7
4
3
Supply chain
Freshwater saved
million gallons
12,300
10,800
9,300
7,600
5,100
Waste
Corporate facilities4
Landfill diversion rate
percent
68%
70%
66%
67%
71%
Landfilled (municipal solid waste)
pounds
33,202,200
25,826,550
38,317,120
32,372,890
31,595,200
Recycled
pounds
73,489,220
63,812,300
72,338,130
66,380,630
68,509,300
Composted
pounds
4,844,960
6,302,410
10,882,120
10,397,430
14,567,500
Hazardous waste
pounds
3,525,840
4,053,770
6,096,600
6,277,800
3,342,700
Waste to energy
pounds
657,890
786,250
1,129,080
1,105,140
645,000
Supply chain
Waste diverted from landfill 
metric tons
491,000
400,000
322,000
375,000
351,000
Product packaging footprint
Total packaging
metric tons
257,000
226,000
189,000
187,000
169,000
Recycled fiber
percent
63%
60%
59%
58%
56%
Responsibly sourced virgin fiber5
percent
33%
35%
33%
32%
30%
Plastic
percent
4%
6%
8%
10%
14%
Resources
1. 	 We define freshwater as drinking-water quality, the majority of which comes from municipal 
sources and less than 5 percent comes from onsite groundwater sources.
2. 	Recycled water represents a key alternative water source. Our recycled water is sourced primarily 
from municipal treatment plants, with less than 5 percent from onsite treatment. Recycled water is 
primarily used for irrigation, make-up water in cooling, or toilet flushing.
3. 	Other alternative sources of water include rainwater and recovered condensate that is captured 
onsite. Water used for construction activities like dust control is not included in this total, and 
represents 13 million gallons of water used in fiscal year 2021.
4. 	Total does not include construction and demolition waste nor electronic waste. We’re refining our 
methodology for collecting this data and plan to include it in future years. We have also re-stated 
the total for 2018 without these categories of waste.
5. 	Responsible sourcing of wood fiber is defined in Apple’s Sustainable Fiber Specification. Since 
2017, all of the virgin wood fiber used in our packaging has come from responsible sources. 
Appendix A
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Fiscal year
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net sales (in millions)
$365,817
$274,515
$260,174
$265,595
$229,234
Number of full-time 
equivalent employees
154,000
147,000
137,000
132,000
123,000
Normalizing  
factors*		 	 	 	
* As reported in Apple’s Form 10-K Annual Report filed with the SEC.
Appendix A
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Appendix B
Corporate facilities  
energy supplement
Use of renewable energy at our facilities 
has been a central component of our 
emissions reduction strategy since 2011. 
We’ve learned a lot about how best to 
secure renewable energy, which has 
helped us educate suppliers and expand 
our renewable energy efforts into our 
supply chain. This appendix summarizes 
the types of renewable energy solutions 
we’ve deployed, and details how we 
implement renewable energy at our data 
centers — our largest energy loads.
How we procure renewable energy
Since launching our renewable energy program in 2011, we 
have implemented a number of solutions to procure renewable 
energy. Our strategy has evolved over time to create the most 
positive impact.
Ownership and PURPA
In 2011, Apple’s 100 percent equity ownership of our Maiden 
solar arrays was the first time a non-energy commercial 
company built its own utility-scale solar PV project. We used 
a 1978 federal law called the Public Utility Regulatory Policies 
Act (PURPA) to structure the project. We then applied this 
same structure to two more large solar PV and biogas fuel cell 
projects in North Carolina and two micro-hydro projects in 
Oregon. This was a landmark moment in corporate renewable 
energy development and led to an increased use of PURPA in 
these states.
Direct Access
Since 2012, in California and Oregon, we’ve used a program 
called Direct Access to bypass the default electricity generation 
offered by the utilities servicing our data centers in those 
states. Instead, we contracted directly with independent power 
producers who could supply 100 percent renewable electricity.
After initially buying from existing, third-party owned projects, 
we’re now procuring renewable energy from projects we 
created: The Solar Star II and Montague Wind projects deliver 
renewables to our Oregon data center, and the California 
Flats solar project to our data center, offices, and retail stores 
in California.
Green Rider
In 2013, we opened a new data center in Reno, Nevada. With 
no PURPA or Direct Access options in Nevada, we worked 
directly with the local utility, NV Energy, to create a whole new 
regulatory structure. The “Nevada Green Rider” enables us 
to secure a long-term, fixed-price contract for renewable 
electricity from a new solar PV project built for us, but managed 
by the utility. We’ve used this partnership to create four solar 
projects totaling 320 megawatts.
Equity investment
In 2014, we invested in two 20-megawatt solar PV projects in 
Sichuan, China, to support all of our in-country retail stores, 
corporate offices, and data storage facilities. This project 
represented the first time a commercial company created a 
new large-scale project in China for its own use. We’ve since 
replicated this model many times for Apple’s supply chain.
Portfolio solutions
In 2015 and 2016, we adapted to land scarcity constraints 
in Singapore and Japan by contracting for solar PV on 
800 rooftops in Singapore and 300 in Japan. We adapted 
our approach in each country to fit local partnerships and 
regulatory structures: We signed a long-term agreement similar 
to a power purchase agreement in Singapore and made an 
equity investment in Japan. These projects offer us long-term 
flexibility as our load grows.
Renewable microgrid
Since 2017, we’ve been powering Apple Park with  
100 percent renewable energy — about 75 percent of which 
is generated onsite and managed by a microgrid. The onsite 
generation comes from 14 megawatts of rooftop solar PV and 
4 megawatts of baseload biogas fuel cells. Any additional 
energy required is drawn by Direct Access from the California 
Flats solar project in nearby Monterey County. The microgrid 
system with battery storage manages the renewable energy 
generation and the building’s energy use; optimizes demand 
management, load shifting, and frequency regulation services; 
and ensures uninterrupted energy reliability against local 
grid outages. 
2022 Environmental Progress Report  89
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Facilities renewable energy projects
To reach 100 percent renewable electricity for Apple’s own 
facilities, Apple has helped to create 1549 MW of renewable 
energy around the world. The projects listed to the right 
represent Apple-created renewable energy projects supporting 
Apple facilities’ electricity use and contributing to cleaner grids 
around the world. Operational projects apply a mix of clean 
energy technology including wind (22.9 percent), solar  
(76.0 percent), micro-hydro (0.21 percent), and biogas fuel 
cells (0.9 percent).
This table represents all operational renewable energy  
projects that Apple has helped create.
Location
Renewable 
energy technology
Size (MW)
Australia
PV
0.5
Brazil
Wind
0.5
China mainland
PV
130
Colombia
PV
0.2
Denmark
PV
42
Denmark
Wind
17
France
PV
<0.1
India
PV
2
Israel
PV
5
Japan
PV
12
Mexico
Wind
0.8
Philippines
PV
0.1
Singapore
PV
35
South Africa
PV
0.2
Taiwan
PV
1
Turkey
PV
4
USA (AZ)
PV
55
USA (CA)
Biogas fuel cell
4
USA (CA)
PV
146
USA (IL)
Wind
112
USA (NC)
Biogas fuel cell
10
USA (NC)
PV
164
USA (NV)
PV
320
USA (OR)
Micro-hydro
3
USA (OR)
PV
125
USA (OR)
Wind
200
USA (TX)
PV
1
USA (TX)
Wind
25
USA (VA)
PV
133.6
Total
1549
Note: Data current as of February 2022 (operational).
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Scope 1
Scope 2
Location
Total gas  
(mmBTU)
Renewable 
biogas (mmBTU)
Scope 1 emissions 
(metric tons CO2e)
Electricity 
(million kWh)
Renewable 
electricity 
(million kWh)
Scope 2 emissions 
(metric tons CO2e)1
Corporate
830,190
202,978
33,369
730
730
0
Cupertino, CA
673,446
202,978
24,999
370
370
0
Elk Grove, CA
10,202
-
543
15
15
0
Austin, TX
12,598
-
669
59
59
0
Other USA
64,053
-
3,411
78
78
0
Cork, Ireland
18,605
-
988
14
14
0
Singapore
152
-
8
16
16
0
China
2,809
-
152
27
27
0
Other international
48,325
-
2,599
151
151
0
Data centers
501,425
508,870
109
1,927
1,927
0
Maiden, NC
508,870
508,870
27
392
392
0
Mesa, AZ
346
-
18
332
332
0
Newark, CA
-
-
-
71
71
0
Prineville, OR
1,210
-
64
279
279
0
Reno, NV
-
-
-
395
395
0
Viborg, Denmark
N/A
N/A
N/A
15
15
0
Colocation facilities (USA)2
N/A
N/A
N/A
291
291
0
Colocation facilities 
(International)2
N/A
N/A
N/A
94
94
0
China
N/A
N/A
N/A
58
58
0
Retail stores
63,933
0
3,396
197
197
0
Domestic (USA)
38,852
-
2,064
95
95
0
International
25,081
-
1,332
102
102
0
Total
1,409,549
719,344
36,874
2,854
2,854
0
Fiscal year 2021 energy and carbon footprint (corporate facilities)
The chart below provides a detailed breakdown of fiscal year 2021 energy use, which we used to calculate our greenhouse gas emissions.
Dash indicates data that are not available.
N/A = Gas use at colocation facilities are considered outside of Apple’s 
operational control.
1.	 Beginning in fiscal year 2021 we are also accounting for purchased steam, 
heating, and cooling which amounts to 2780 metric tons of scope 2 emissions. 
2.	 We’ve updated our fiscal year 2016 colocation facilities footprint to reflect 
more accurately Apple’s operational boundaries. Per the WRI Greenhouse 
Gas Protocol, we’ve removed electricity use associated with colocation facility 
cooling and building operations. This energy use, however, is still covered by 
renewable energy.
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A focus on data centers
We used over 1.96 billion kWh of electricity in fiscal year 2021 
to power our data centers and colocation facilities around the 
world. We’re proud that 100 percent of that electricity came 
from clean, renewable sources including solar, wind, biogas 
fuel cells, and low-impact hydro power. To cover our needs, we 
build our own renewable power projects and work with utilities 
to purchase clean energy from locally obtained resources. 
We’re staying at 100 percent even as Apple’s data center 
presence continues to grow.
Maiden, North Carolina
Solar + Biogas Fuel Cells
100 percent renewable since opening June 2010
Between 2011 and 2015, we installed 68 megawatts of 
Apple-created projects: two 20-megawatt solar projects, an 
18-megawatt solar project, and 10 megawatts of biogas fuel 
cells. We then partnered with the local utility, Duke Energy, to 
help build five solar projects through its Green Source Rider 
program. These solar projects came online beginning in 2015 
and were Duke Energy’s first Green Source Rider projects 
to become operational. We worked with Duke Energy for 
several years to develop this green energy tariff option, which 
allowed Apple and Duke Energy to work together to develop 
new renewable energy projects. The five Green Source Rider 
Maiden, North Carolina: Grid mix vs. Apple-sourced renewable energy
Electricity use in fiscal year 2021: 392 million kWh
We now operate eight data centers, and more are being 
developed. These data centers are spread across North 
America, Europe, and Asia. Each has unique design features 
that conserve energy and reflect the climate, as well as other 
aspects, of its location.
projects have a combined capacity of 22 megawatts. In 2017, 
we made long-term commitments to five more solar projects  
in North Carolina, for an additional 85 megawatts of clean 
energy. In fiscal year 2021, the Maiden data center was 
supported by projects that generated 392 million kWh of 
renewable energy, which is equivalent to the energy used 
by over 31,000 homes in North Carolina for a year.1 Use of 
renewable energy allowed us to avoid over 106,000 metric  
tons of CO₂e during the fiscal year.2 
Energy efficiency measures we’ve implemented at our Maiden 
data centers include use of outside air cooling through a 
waterside economizer during night and cool-weather hours, 
which, along with water storage, allows the chillers to be idle  
75 percent of the time.
Default grid mix (North Carolina)
(%)
Coal
23
Gas
31
Nuclear
32
Hydro
5
Renewable
8
Other
<1
Source: eGrid 2019
Apple actual renewable energy use
(%)
Apple’s solar projects
77
Apple’s biogas fuel cells
14
Duke Green Source Rider (100 percent solar)
10
Source: Actual fiscal year 2021 energy data. Totals don’t add up to 100% due 
to rounding.
1.	 Carbon emissions equivalences calculated using U.S. Energy Information 
Administration, 2019 data: www.eia.gov/electricity/sales_revenue_price/pdf/
table5_a.pdf.
2.	 Emissions avoided are calculated using the World Resources Institute 
Greenhouse Gas Protocol methodology for calculating market-based emissions.
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Prineville, Oregon
Wind + Solar + Low-Impact Hydro  
100 percent renewable since opening May 2012
To support our Prineville data center, we signed a 
200-megawatt power purchase agreement for a new Oregon 
wind farm, the Montague Wind Power Facility, which entered 
commercial operation at the end of 2019. It’s our largest project 
to date, producing over 562 million kWh of clean, renewable 
energy a year.
This is in addition to our power purchase agreement for the 
56-megawatt Solar Star Oregon II project located just a few 
miles from our data center. This solar PV project, which came 
online and began supporting the data center in 2017, produces 
141 million kWh of renewable energy per year. To strengthen 
the connection between Apple and these projects, we use 
Oregon’s Direct Access program to supply the renewable 
energy from these projects directly to our data center.
Prineville, Oregon: Grid mix vs. Apple-sourced renewable energy
Electricity use in fiscal year 2021: 279 million kWh
Also supporting the data center are two micro-hydro projects 
that harness the power of water flowing through local irrigation 
canals that have been operating for over 60 years. In fiscal 
year 2021, these micro-hydro projects generated nearly 
3 million kWh of renewable energy. To supplement these 
projects, we executed a long-term purchase agreement for all 
environmental attributes from a 69-megawatt portfolio of eight 
solar projects in Oregon.
In fiscal year 2021, the Prineville data center was supported by 
projects that generated 279 million kWh of renewable energy, 
which is equivalent to the energy used by over 25,000 homes 
in Oregon for a year.3 Use of renewable energy allowed us to 
avoid over 196,000 metric tons of CO₂e during the fiscal year.4 
Our Prineville data center takes advantage of the cool and 
dry climate by cooling its servers with outside air whenever 
possible. Indirect evaporative cooling is enabled when the 
outside air temperature gets too high to cool the servers with 
outside air alone.
Default grid mix (Oregon)
(%)
Coal
4
Gas
34
Hydro
49
Renewable
14
Source: eGrid 2019. Totals don’t add up to 100% due to rounding. 
Apple actual renewable energy use
(%)
Apple’s micro-hydro projects
1
Oregon solar and wind (via Direct Access)
99
Source: Actual fiscal year 2021 energy data.
3.	 Carbon emissions equivalences calculated using U.S. Energy Information 
Administration, 2019 data: www.eia.gov/electricity/sales_revenue_price/pdf/
table5_a.pdf.
4.	 Emissions avoided are calculated using the World Resources Institute 
Greenhouse Gas Protocol methodology for calculating market-based emissions.
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Reno, Nevada
Solar
100 percent renewable since opening December 2012
Unlike competitive energy markets where we’ve located some 
of our data centers, the regulated electricity supply in Nevada 
did not offer a simple solution for us to create new renewable 
energy projects dedicated to our data center. So, in 2013, 
we created a partnership with the local utility, NV Energy, 
to develop the Fort Churchill Solar project. Apple designed, 
financed, and constructed the project, and NV Energy operates 
it and directs all the renewable energy it produces to our data 
center. The Fort Churchill Solar project uses a photovoltaic 
panel with curved mirrors that concentrate sunlight. The 
20-megawatt array has an annual production capacity of over 
43 million kWh.
To facilitate further renewable development in Nevada, Apple 
worked with NV Energy and the Nevada utility commission 
to create a green energy option open to all commercial 
customers, called the Nevada Green Rider, that does not 
require the customer to fund project development up-front. 
Reno, Nevada: Grid mix vs. Apple-sourced renewable energy
Electricity use in fiscal year 2021: 395 million kWh
Thanks to this new option, in 2015 we announced our second 
Nevada solar project, the 50-megawatt Boulder Solar II project. 
This project came online in 2017, producing about 137 million 
kWh of renewable energy per year. We have used the Nevada 
Green Rider two more times, first for the 200-megawatt 
Techren Solar II project. Apple’s largest solar project to date, it is 
estimated to produce over 540 million kWh per year and came 
online in late 2019.
Next was the 50-megawatt Turquoise Nevada project, which 
came online in late 2020. The project is estimated to produce 
110 million kWh of renewable energy per year. In fiscal year 
2021, the Reno data center was supported by projects that 
generated 395 million kWh of renewable energy, which is 
equivalent to the energy used by nearly 34,000 homes in 
Nevada for a year.5 Use of renewable energy allowed us  
to avoid more than 106,000 metric tons of CO₂e during the 
fiscal year.6 
Like in Prineville, our Reno data center takes advantage of the 
mild climate by cooling its servers with outside air whenever 
possible. When the outside air is too warm to cool the servers 
alone, it draws from indirect evaporative cooling.
 
Default grid mix (Nevada)
(%)
Coal
7
Gas
65
Hydro
6
Renewable
23
Source: eGrid 2019. Totals don’t add up to 100% due to rounding. 
Apple actual renewable energy use
(%)
Apple’s solar projects (via the Nevada Green Rider program)
100
Source: Actual fiscal year 2021 energy data.
5.	 Carbon emissions equivalences calculated using U.S. Energy Information 
Administration, 2019 data: www.eia.gov/electricity/sales_revenue_price/pdf/
table5_a.pdf.
6.	 Emissions avoided are calculated using the World Resources Institute 
Greenhouse Gas Protocol methodology for calculating market-based emissions.
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Newark, California
Solar
100 percent renewable since January 2013
Our data center in Newark, California, is powered by  
100 percent renewable energy. We hit this milestone in  
January 2013, when we began serving the data center with 
energy sourced primarily from California wind power.
We acquired this energy directly from the wholesale market 
through California’s Direct Access program.
Newark, California: Grid mix vs. Apple-sourced renewable energy
Electricity use in fiscal year 2021: 71 million kWh
In 2017, Apple’s 130-megawatt California Flats solar project in 
nearby Monterey County came online, and now we use Direct 
Access to supply power from that project directly to our data 
center as well as other Apple facilities in California.
In fiscal year 2021, the Newark data center was supported  
by projects that generated 71 million kWh of renewable energy, 
which is equivalent to the energy used by nearly 10,000 homes 
in California for a year.7 Use of renewable energy allowed  
us to avoid more than 5000 metric tons of CO₂e during the 
fiscal year.8 
Default grid mix (California)
(%)
Coal
<1
Gas
43
Nuclear
8
Hydro
19
Renewable
29
Other
1
Source: eGrid 2019. Totals don’t add up to 100% due to rounding. 
Apple actual renewable energy use
(%)
Bundled solar (via Direct Access)
100
Source: Actual fiscal year 2021 energy data.
7.	 Carbon emissions equivalences calculated using U.S. Energy Information 
Administration, 2019 data: www.eia.gov/electricity/sales_revenue_price/pdf/
table5_a.pdf.
8.	 Emissions avoided are calculated using the World Resources Institute 
Greenhouse Gas Protocol methodology for calculating market-based emissions.
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Mesa, Arizona
Solar
100 percent renewable since opening March 20179
Our global command data center in Mesa, Arizona, came online 
in 2016. To support this facility, we partnered with the local 
utility, the Salt River Project (SRP), to build the 50-megawatt 
Bonnybrooke solar project, which became operational in 
December 2016. This project produces over 148 million kWh 
of clean, renewable energy a year, which roughly matches the 
energy used by the data center.
As the Mesa data center grew, it became apparent that we 
needed additional sources of renewable energy to maintain our 
100 percent renewable electricity goal.
We began to explore onsite solar options at the data center and 
determined that we could provide valuable shaded parking that 
paid for itself through energy bill reductions while adding to our 
renewable energy portfolio. The resulting PV facility includes 
five elevated parking canopies and three ground-mounted 
Mesa, Arizona: Grid mix vs. Apple-sourced renewable energy
Electricity use in fiscal year 2021: 332 million kWh
arrays, for a total generating capacity of 4.67 MW. The onsite 
PV system began commercial operation in February 2019 and 
is expected to generate 9000 MWh per year.
In addition, we began working with SRP to develop a 
customer renewable energy program in 2017, resulting in their 
Sustainable Energy Initiative, launched in 2019, to provide 
a diverse mix of commercial electric customers with new 
renewable energy at an affordable price. Under this program, 
Apple has executed an agreement with SRP to purchase a 
portion of the output of their proposed 100 MW Central Line 
PV Facility, expected to begin operations in 2022.
In fiscal year 2021, the Mesa data center was supported by 
332 million kWh of renewable energy, which is equivalent 
to the energy used by over 25,000 Arizona homes.10 
Use of renewable energy allowed us to avoid more than 
144,000 metric tons of CO₂e during the fiscal year.11 
Default grid mix (Arizona)
(%)
Coal
21
Gas
41
Nuclear
28
Hydro
6
Renewable
5
Source: eGrid 2019. Totals don’t add up to 100% due to rounding. 
Apple actual renewable energy use
(%)
Apple’s solar project
100
Source: Actual fiscal year 2021 energy data.
9.	
Apple took operational control of the building in October 2015 and converted 
it to a data center that began servicing customers in March 2017: www.srpnet.
com/about/stations/pdfx/2018irp.pdf.
10.	 Carbon emissions equivalences calculated using U.S. Energy Information 
Administration, 2019 data: www.eia.gov/electricity/sales_revenue_price/pdf/
table5_a.pdf.
11.	 Emissions avoided are calculated using the World Resources Institute 
Greenhouse Gas Protocol methodology for calculating market-based emissions.
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Denmark
Solar
100 percent renewable energy from its first day 
of operations
Our data center came online in 2020. The data center’s 
construction phase was powered with 100 percent wind energy 
from a local renewable energy retailer in Denmark. Our Northern 
Jutland PV project achieved commercial operation in late 2019, 
will meet all of the data center’s near-term energy needs, and 
at 42 megawatts, is one of Denmark’s largest solar power 
plants. Our second renewable project in Denmark, a 17 MW 
wind project, also came online in late 2020. We have secured 
long-term supply contracts with both Danish renewable projects, 
which will scale up as our data center loads grow.
Denmark: Grid mix vs. Apple-sourced renewable energy
Electricity use in fiscal year 2021: 15 million kWh
The power system design at the data center is based on a 
resilient substation that eliminates the need for backup diesel 
generators. This reduces the carbon footprint of the data center 
and completely eliminates the need for large diesel fuel storage 
systems and diesel engine emissions that would impact the 
local community.
In fiscal year 2021, the Denmark data center sourced 15 million 
kWh of renewable energy, avoiding more than 6000 metric tons 
of CO₂e.12 
Default grid mix (Denmark)
(%)
Coal
11
Gas
4
Renewable
78
Other
7
Source: International Energy Agency 2021. Totals don’t add up to 100%  
due to rounding.
Apple actual renewable energy use
(%)
Apple’s solar project
100
Source: Actual fiscal year 2021 energy data.
12.	 Emissions avoided are calculated using the World Resources Institute 
Greenhouse Gas Protocol methodology for calculating market-
based emissions. 
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China
Solar
100 percent renewable energy from the first day 
of operation
To cover the electricity load at our two data centers in China, we 
procure 100 percent renewable electricity from a solar project 
that came online recently in China. 
China: Grid mix vs. Apple-sourced renewable energy
Electricity use in fiscal year 2021: 58 million kWh
As the data centers further expand, we will continue to source 
renewable electricity in country to support the growth with 
renewable electricity.
In fiscal year 2021, the China data center was supported 
by 58 million kWh of renewable energy, avoiding more than 
36,000 metric tons of CO₂e during the fiscal year.13
Default grid mix (China)
(%)
Coal
67
Gas
3
Renewable
78
Other
7
Source: International Energy Agency 2021.
Apple actual renewable energy use
(%)
Apple’s solar project
100
Source: International Energy Agency 2021.
13.	 Emissions avoided are calculated using the World Resources Institute Greenhouse 
Gas Protocol methodology for calculating market-based emissions.
Air quality
Data centers often rely on diesel-powered emergency 
generators to provide a backup source of power in case of 
electrical outages. Emergency generators must be exercised 
periodically to ensure their operational reliability. These 
preventative maintenance activities as well as emergency 
operations during power outages consume diesel fuel and 
result in air pollutant emissions. As a source of air pollutant 
emissions, the emergency generators at Apple’s data centers 
are operated under air permits issued by regulatory agencies. 
These permits require monitoring, testing, inspection, and 
reporting at regular intervals.
We’ve voluntarily installed emissions control systems on 
our emergency generators to reduce emissions of nitrogen 
oxides and particulates. And we’re standardizing our approach 
to preventative maintenance activities to minimize annual 
testing hours.
To further reduce air emissions at our data centers, we’re 
finding innovative ways to minimize the use of diesel-powered 
emergency generators. In Denmark, we’ve deployed a new 
substation design, in conjunction with the local utility, with the 
highest level of resiliency and automation. It will allow Apple 
to eliminate emergency generators altogether—in addition to 
eliminating air emissions associated with diesel fuel delivery. 
At our data centers in Nevada, North Carolina, and Oregon, 
we have added a second transmission line, which increases 
the reliability of the power supply and, therefore, minimizes the 
need for emergency operation of the generators.
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Our colocation facilities
The majority of our online services are provided by our own 
data centers; however, we also use third-party colocation 
facilities for additional data center capacity. While we don’t 
own these shared facilities and use only a portion of their total 
capacity, we include our portion of their energy use in our 
renewable energy goals.
Starting in January 2018, 100 percent of our power for 
colocation facilities was matched with renewable energy 
generated within the same state or NERC region for facilities  
in the United States, or within the same country or regional  
grid for those around the world. As our loads grow over time, 
we’ll continue working with our colocation suppliers to match 
100 percent of our energy use with renewables.
Furthermore, we worked with one of our main suppliers of 
colocation services to help it develop the capability to provide 
renewable energy solutions to its customers. This partnership 
advances Apple’s renewable energy program and those of 
other companies that use this colocation provider.
Total energy  
use (kWh)
Renewable  
energy (kWh)
Default utility  
emissions14 
 (metric tons CO2e)
Apple’s emissions – 
 including renewable  
energy15 (metric tons CO2e)
Percent 
renewable energy16
FY2011
42,500
0
10
10
0%
FY2012
38,552,300
1,471,680
17,200
16,500
4%
FY2013
79,462,900
46,966,900
31,800
14,500
59%
FY2014
108,659,700
88,553,400
44,300
11,000
81%
FY2015
142,615,000
121,086,100
60,500
12,700
85%
FY201617
145,520,900
143,083,200
66,300
1,600
98%
FY2017
289,195,800
286,378,100
125,600
1,500
99%
FY2018
327,663,800
326,959,700
146,600
400
99.8%
FY2019
339,047,649
339,047,649
146,400
0
100%
FY2020
372,901,398
372,901,398
153,459
0
100%
FY2021
384,727,076
384,727,076
146,780
0
100%
Third-party computing
Beyond the use of our own data centers and colocation 
facilities, we also use third-party services to support some of 
our on-demand cloud computing and storage services. We 
are requiring these suppliers to adopt a 100 percent renewable 
energy strategy for their Apple energy use, and we continue 
to work with our suppliers to refine estimates for the carbon 
emissions associated with their services.
14.	 We calculate “default utility emissions” to provide baseline emissions of what 
our carbon footprint would have been without the use of renewable energy. 
This allows us to demonstrate the savings resulting from our renewable 
energy program.
15.	 Apple’s greenhouse gas emissions are calculated using the World Resources 
Institute Greenhouse Gas Protocol methodology for calculating market-
based emissions.
16.	 We calculate our progress toward our 100 percent renewable energy goal on 
a calendar year basis, while the numbers reported in this table are based on 
fiscal year. Beginning January 1, 2018, all of the electricity use at our colocation 
facilities is from 100 percent renewable energy.
17.	 Over the past few years, we have been installing submeters in colocation 
facilities to better track electricity usage. Beginning in FY2016, we started 
reporting this submetered electricity usage. Prior to fiscal year 2016, reported 
electricity usage was conservatively estimated based on maximum contract 
capacity quantities. We’ve updated our fiscal year 2016 colocation facilities 
footprint to reflect more accurately Apple’s operational boundaries. Per the WRI 
Greenhouse Gas Protocol, we’ve removed from our electricity usage and scope 
2 calculations those emissions associated with colocation facility cooling and 
building operations.
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Appendix C
Assurance and  
review statements
Gross comprehensive carbon footprint (Fraunhofer Institute)
Product end use program data (Apex)
Facilities energy, carbon, waste, paper, and water data (Apex)
Supplier clean energy program (Apex)
Supplier clean energy efficiency program (Apex)
Packaging plastic footprint (Fraunhofer Institute)
Comprehensive fiber footprint (Fraunhofer Institute)
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Letter of Assurance
Comprehensive Carbon Footprint – Scope 3: Product related Carbon 
Footprint for Fiscal Year 2021 
Fraunhofer IZM reviewed Apple’s scope 3 carbon footprint data related to the products 
manufactured and sold by Apple Inc. in fiscal year 2021.  
1
Summary 
This review checks transparency of data and calculations, appropriateness of supporting 
product related data and assumptions, and overall plausibility of the calculated 
comprehensive annual carbon footprint comprised of emissions derived from the life cycle 
assessment (LCA) of Apple products shipped in fiscal year 2021. This review and verification 
focuses on Scope 3 emissions for products sold by Apple Inc. (as defined by 
WRI/WBCSD/Greenhouse Gas Protocol – Scope 3 Accounting and Reporting Standard). It is 
noted that emissions relating to the facilities that are owned or leased by Apple (scope 1 
and 2 emissions) as well as business travel and employee commute were subject to a 
separate third party verification and are therefore excluded from the scope of this 
statement. Confidential data relating to product sales and shipments were also excluded 
from the scope of this verification.  
This review and verification covers Apple’s annual greenhouse gas emissions and does not 
replace reviews conducted for individual product LCAs for greenhouse gas emissions 
(GHGs). The life cycle emissions data produced by Apple for individual products has been 
calculated in accordance to the standard ISO 14040/14044: Environmental management – 
Life cycle assessment – Principles and framework / Requirements and guidelines. This 
review and verification furthermore complies with ISO 14064-3: Greenhouse gases – Part 3: 
Specification with guidance for the validation and verification of greenhouse gas assertions.  
The review of the annual carbon footprint has considered the following criteria: 

The system, boundaries and functional unit are clearly defined 

Assumptions and estimations made are appropriate 

Selection of primary and secondary data is appropriate and methodologies used 
are adequately disclosed 
These criteria are also fundamental to the review of LCAs conducted for individual product 
emissions. The reviewers note that the largest share (99%) of Apple Inc. annual carbon 
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footprint is comprised of scope 3 emissions from individual products. The aforementioned 
criteria have been regularly reviewed by Fraunhofer IZM since 2007 with a view to 
providing independent feedback that can facilitate continuous improvement and 
refinement in the LCA methodology applied by Apple Inc.  
Data reported by Apple is as follows: 
Manufacturing
Transportation
Product Use 
Recycling 
Corporate 
2021
16.20 
1.75 
4.99 
0.08 
0.17 
[MMT CO2e] 
[MMT CO2e]
[MMT CO2e]
[MMT CO2e]
[MMT CO2e] 
(1) 
(2) 
(3) 
MMT CO2e: million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalents 
(1): includes CO2e reductions due to Apple’s Clean Energy Program and Renewable Energy Certificates, which are 
not covered by this verification statement 
(2): includes CO2e reductions due to Renewable Energy Certificates, which are not covered by this verification 
statement 
(3): not covered by this verification statement
Including a reported value of 0.17 million metric tons CO2e for facilities (out of scope of 
this verification), total comprehensive carbon footprint is reported to be 23.18 million 
metric tons CO2e (gross total). 
Apple’s comprehensive carbon footprint includes an increasing amount of greenhouse gas 
emissions reductions for manufacturing resulting from Apple renewable energy projects, 
supplier renewable electricity purchases, and supplier renewable electricity installations.  
These reductions are part of Apple’s Clean Energy Program. Fraunhofer IZM has not 
verified these emissions reductions. 
Based on the process and procedures conducted, there is no evidence that the Greenhouse 
Gas (GHG) assertion with regards to scope 3 carbon footprint 

is not materially correct and is not a fair representation of GHG data and
information, and

has not been prepared in accordance with the related International Standard on
GHG quantification, monitoring and reporting.
2
Reviewed Data and Plausibility Check 
A verification and sampling plan as required by ISO 14046-3 has been established for the 
comprehensive carbon footprint review and verification, defining the level of assurance, 
objectives, criteria, scope and materiality of the verification. 
As part of this review and verification Apple disclosed following data to Fraunhofer IZM: 
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
Sales data for FY2021, including accessories and including AppleCare, Apple's 
extended warranty and technical support plans for their devices.

Life cycle GHG emissions for all products, differentiating the actual product 
configurations (e.g., memory capacity)

Calculation methodology for the comprehensive carbon footprint and 
methodological changes implemented in 2021

The total carbon footprint – scope 3 for the fiscal year 2021

Detailed analysis of the comprehensive carbon footprint including:
o
The breakdown of the carbon footprint into life cycle phases 
manufacturing, transportation, product use and recycling
o
Detailed product specific split into life cycle phases
o
The contribution of individual products and product families to the overall 
carbon footprint
The data and information supporting the GHG assertion were projected (use phase and 
recycling) and historical (i.e., fiscal year 2021 data regarding sales figures, 
manufacturing, transportation, use patterns where available). 
This review comprises a check of selected data, which are most influential to the overall 
carbon footprint. The overall plausibility check addressed the following questions: 

Are product LCAs referenced and updated with more recent data correctly?

Are results for products, for which no full LCA review was undertaken, plausible?

Are carbon emission data for individual products plausible in the light of
methodological changes as indicated by Apple?
This review was done remotely. 
3
Findings 
In FY2021 and beginning of FY2022 14 recent product LCA studies have been reviewed 
successfully against ISO 14040/44. These LCAs cover product segments iPhone, iPad, 
MacBook Air, MacBookPro, iMac, and Apple Watch. These recently reviewed LCA studies 
cover products which represent in total 44.6% of the total scope 3 carbon footprint. 
Representatives of other product segments (iPod, Mac Pro, HomePod, AirPort Express / 
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AirPort Extreme, Apple TV, AirPods and Beats products) underwent no or only minor 
design changes compared to those which went through a full LCA review in former years. 
All reviewed LCA studies up to now cover in total 67.3% of the total scope 3 carbon 
footprint. 
All questions raised in the course of the review were answered by Apple and related 
evidence was provided where needed. 
4
Conclusions 
Apple’s assessment approach is excellent in terms of granularity of the used calculation 
data. A significant share of components is modelled with accurate primary data from 
Apple’s suppliers.  
For all product LCA calculations, where exact data was missing, the principle of a worst-
case approach has been followed and results have been calculated with rather conservative 
estimates.   
The review has not found assumptions or calculation errors on the carbon footprint data 
level that indicate the scope 3 carbon footprint has been materially misstated. The excellent 
analysis meets the principles of good scientific practice.    
Berlin, March 21, 2022 
- Karsten Schischke -
- Marina Proske - 
Fraunhofer IZM
Fraunhofer IZM 
Dept. Environmental and
Dept. Environmental and 
Reliability Engineering
Reliability Engineering 
Reviewer Credentials and Qualification 
Karsten Schischke: Experience and background in the field of Life Cycle Assessments include 

Life Cycle Assessment course and exam as part of the Environmental Engineering studies (Dipl.-Ing.
Technischer Umweltschutz, Technische Universität Berlin, 1999)

more than 130 Critical Reviews of LCA studies since 2005 (batteries, displays, mobile devices,
networked ICT equipment, home automation devices, servers, desktop computers, inverters, digital
advertising solutions, smart cards) for 8 different industry clients and of the EPEAT Environmental
Benefits Calculator
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
Coordination of and contribution to compilation of more than 100 ELCD datasets (available at 
www.lca2go.eu; product groups: hard disk drives, semiconductors, printed circuit boards, 
photovoltaics) 

Environmental Lifecycle Assessments following the MEEuP / MEErP methodology in several Ecodesign 
Product Group Studies under the European Ecodesign Directive since 2007 (mobile phones and tablets, 
external power supplies, complex settop-boxes, machine tools, welding equipment) 

various environmental gate-to-gate assessments in research projects since 2000 (wafer bumping, 
printed circuit board manufacturing) 
Further updated information at: www.linkedin.com/in/karsten-schischke
Marina Proske: Experience and background in the field of Life Cycle Assessments include

Life Cycle Assessment course and exam as part of the Environmental Engineering studies (Dipl.-Ing. 
Technischer Umweltschutz, Technische Universität Berlin, 2009) 

Critical Reviews of LCA studies incl. water, fiber and plastic footprints since 2012 for 2 industry clients 
and of the EPEAT Environmental Benefits Calculator 

Life Cycle Assessment of two modular smartphones (Fairphone 2, Fairphone 3) 

Studies on the environmental assessment and carbon footprint of ICT 

Studies on material and lifetime aspects within the MEErP methodology  
Further updated information at: https://de.linkedin.com/in/marina-proske-74347164/en
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INDEPENDENT ASSURANCE STATEMENT  
 
 
To:  The Stakeholders of Apple Inc. 
 
Introduction and objectives of work  
Apex Companies, LLC (Apex) was engaged by Apple Inc. (Apple) to conduct an independent 
assurance of its Product End Use Program data.  This assurance statement applies to the 
related information included within the scope of work described below.  The intended users of 
the assurance statement are the stakeholders of Apple. The overall aim of this process is to 
provide assurance to Apple’s stakeholders on the accuracy, reliability and objectivity of the 
reported information.   
This information and its presentation are the sole responsibility of the management of Apple.  
Apex was not involved in the collection of the information or the drafting of the reported 
information.  
 
Scope of work  
Apple requested Apex to include in its independent review the following:  
▪ 
Assurance of Product End Use Program emissions for the fiscal year 2021 reporting 
period (September 28, 2020 through September 26, 2021), specifically, in accordance 
with Apple’s definitions: 
o 
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions associated with Product End Use; 
o 
Appropriateness and robustness of underlying reporting systems and processes, 
used to collect, analyze, and review the information reported.  
Excluded from the scope of our work is any assurance of information relating to: 
▪ 
Activities outside the defined assurance period. 
 
Methodology  
As part of its independent verification, Apex undertook the following activities:  
1. Interviews with relevant personnel of Apple;  
2. Review of documentary evidence produced by Apple; 
3. Audit of performance data; 
4. Review of Apple’s systems for quantitative data aggregation.  
 
Our work was conducted against Apex’s standard procedures and guidelines for external 
Verification of Sustainability Reports, based on current best practice in independent assurance. 
Apex procedures are based on principles and methods described in the International Standard 
on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 Revised, Assurance Engagements Other than Audits 
or Reviews of Historical Financial Information (effective for assurance reports dated on or after 
Dec. 15, 2015), issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board and ISO 
14064-3: Greenhouse gases -- Part 3: Specification with guidance for the validation and 
verification of greenhouse gas statements. 
   
The work was planned and carried out to provide limited, rather than reasonable assurance 
and we believe it provides an appropriate basis for our conclusions.  
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Our Findings   
Apex verified Greenhouse Gas emissions for the fiscal year 2021 reporting period:  
Period 
Quantity 
Units 
Boundary / Protocol 
FY2021  
(9/28/2020-9/26/2021) 
4,990,000 
Metric tons of 
carbon dioxide 
equivalent 
(MtCO2e) 
Apple Internal Protocol 
 
On the basis of our methodology and the activities described above: 
▪ 
Nothing has come to our attention to indicate that the reviewed emissions data within 
the scope of our verification are inaccurate and the information included therein is not 
fairly stated and have not been prepared in accordance with Apple’s stated protocols 
for the Product End Use Program;  
▪ 
It is our opinion that Apple has established appropriate systems for the collection, 
aggregation and analysis of quantitative data such as energy and associated GHG 
emissions reductions.  
This independent statement should not be relied upon to detect all errors, omissions or 
misstatements that may exist. 
 
Statement of independence, integrity and competence 
Apex has implemented a Code of Ethics across the business to maintain high ethical standards 
among staff in their day to day business activities. We are particularly vigilant in the prevention 
of conflicts of interest.  
No member of the assurance team has a business relationship with Apple, its Directors or 
Managers beyond that required of this assignment. We have conducted this verification 
independently, and there has been no conflict of interest.  
The assurance team has extensive experience in conducting verification and assurance over 
environmental, social, ethical and health and safety information, systems and processes, has 
over 30 years combined experience in this field and an excellent understanding of Apex  
standard methodology for the Assurance of Sustainability Reports.  
Attestation:  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Trevor A. Donaghu, Lead Assuror  
David Reilly, Technical Reviewer 
Program Manager 
Principal Consultant  
Sustainability and Climate Change Services 
Sustainability and Climate Change 
Services  
 
March 8, 2022 
 
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INDEPENDENT ASSURANCE STATEMENT 
 
To:  The Stakeholders of Apple Inc. 
 
Introduction and objectives of work  
Apex Companies, LLC (Apex) was engaged by Apple Inc. (Apple) to conduct an independent 
assurance of select environmental data reported in its 2021 environmental report (the Report).  This 
assurance statement applies to the related information included within the scope of work described 
below. The intended users of the assurance statement are the stakeholders of Apple. The overall aim 
of this process is to provide assurance to Apple’s stakeholders on the accuracy, reliability and 
objectivity of Subject Matter included in the Report.   
This information and its presentation in the Report are the sole responsibility of the management of 
Apple. Apex was not involved in the collection of the information or the drafting of the Report.  
 
Scope of Work  
Apple requested Apex to include in its independent review the following (Subject Matter):  
▪ 
Assurance of select environmental data and information included in the Report for the fiscal 
year 2021 reporting period (September 28, 2020 through September 26, 2021), specifically, in 
accordance with Apple’s definitions and World Resources Institute (WRI)/World Business 
Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Greenhouse Gas Protocol:  
o 
Energy: Direct (Million Therms) and Indirect (Million kilowatt hours (mkWh)) 
o 
Renewable Energy (mkWh) 
o 
Water Withdrawal (Million Gallons) 
o 
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions: Direct Scope 1 emissions by weight, Indirect Scope 
2 emissions by weight, Indirect Scope 3 emissions by weight (Employee Commute and 
Business Travel) (Metric Tonnes of Carbon Dioxide equivalent) 
o 
Waste Quantities and Disposition (Metric Tonnes) 
o 
Paper Quantities (Metric Tonnes) 
o 
Appropriateness and robustness of underlying reporting systems and processes, used to 
collect, analyze, and review the environmental information reported  
Excluded from the scope of our work is any assurance of information relating to: 
▪ 
Text or other written statements associated with the Report 
▪ 
Activities outside the defined assurance period  
Assessment Standards 
Our work was conducted against Apex’s standard procedures and guidelines for external Verification 
of Sustainability Reports, based on current best practice in independent assurance. Apex procedures 
are based on principles and methods described in the International Standard on Assurance 
Engagements (ISAE) 3000 Revised, Assurance Engagements Other than Audits or Reviews of 
Historical Financial Information (effective for assurance reports dated on or after Dec. 15, 2015), 
issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board and ISO 14064-3: Greenhouse 
gases -- Part 3: Specification with guidance for the validation and verification of greenhouse gas 
statements. 
Methodology  
Apex undertook the following activities:  
1. Virtual remote site visits to Apple facilities in Herzeliya, Israel; Haifa, Israel; and Prineville, 
OR, USA;  
2. Remote visit/meetings with personnel from Apple corporate offices in Cupertino, California; 
3. Interviews with relevant personnel of Apple;  
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4. Review of internal and external documentary evidence produced by Apple;  
5. Audit of environmental performance data presented in the Report, including a detailed review 
of a sample of data against source data; and 
6. Review of Apple information systems for collection, aggregation, analysis and internal 
verification and review of environmental data.  
 
The work was planned and carried out to provide reasonable assurance for all indicators and we 
believe it provides an appropriate basis for our conclusions.  
 
Our Findings   
Apex verified the following indicators for Apple’s Fiscal Year 2021 reporting period (September 28, 
2020 through September 26, 2021):  
 
Parameter 
Quantity 
Units 
Boundary / Protocol 
Natural Gas Consumption   
14.0  
Million Therms 
Worldwide occupied 
properties / Apple Internal 
Protocol 
Electricity Consumption 
2,854 
Million kilowatt 
hours (mkWh) 
Worldwide occupied 
properties / Apple Internal 
Protocol 
Renewable Energy 
2,854 
Million kilowatt 
hours (mkWh) 
Worldwide / Invoiced 
quantities & self-generated 
Scope 1 GHG Emissions 
55,202 
metric tons of 
carbon dioxide 
equivalent (tCO2e) 
Worldwide occupied 
properties / WRI/WBCSD 
GHG Protocol 
Scope 2 GHG Emissions 
(Location-Based) 
1,003,246 
tCO2e 
Worldwide occupied 
properties / WRI/WBCSD 
GHG Protocol 
Scope 2 GHG Emissions 
(Market-Based) 
2,783 
tCO2e 
Worldwide occupied 
properties / WRI/WBCSD 
GHG Protocol 
Scope 3 GHG Emissions – 
Business Travel  
22,800 
tCO2e 
Worldwide occupied 
properties / WRI/WBCSD 
GHG Protocol Value Chain 
(Scope 3) 
Scope 3 GHG Emissions – 
Employee Commute 
85,600 
tCO2e 
Worldwide occupied 
properties / WRI/WBCSD 
GHG Protocol Value Chain 
(Scope 3) 
Water Withdrawal 
1,407 
Million gallons 
Worldwide occupied 
properties / Apple Internal 
Protocol 
Water Discharge 
771 
Million gallons 
Worldwide occupied 
properties / Apple Internal 
Protocol 
Trash disposed in Landfill 
15,060 
Metric tonnes 
Worldwide occupied 
properties / Apple Internal 
Protocol 
Hazardous Waste 
(Regulated waste) 
1,599 
Metric tonnes 
Worldwide occupied 
properties / Apple Internal 
Protocol 
Recycled Material 
(Removal by recycling 
contractor) 
33,334 
Metric tonnes 
Worldwide occupied 
properties / Apple Internal 
Protocol 
Composted Material 
2,198 
Metric tonnes 
Worldwide occupied 
properties / Apple Internal 
Protocol 
Waste to Energy 
298 
Metric tonnes 
Worldwide occupied 
properties / Apple Internal 
Protocol 
Paper Used 
385 
Metric tonnes 
Worldwide occupied 
properties / Apple Internal 
Protocol 
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Our Conclusion 
Based on the assurance process and procedures conducted regarding the Subject Matter, we 
conclude that:  
• 
The Energy, Water, Waste, Paper, and Scope 1, 2 & 3 GHG Emissions assertions shown 
above are materially correct and are a fair representation of the data and information; 
• 
Apple has established appropriate systems for the collection, aggregation and analysis of 
relevant environmental information, and has implemented underlying internal assurance 
practices that provide a reasonable degree of confidence that such information is complete 
and accurate.  
 
Statement of independence, integrity and competence 
Apex has implemented a Code of Ethics across the business to maintain high ethical standards 
among staff in their day to day business activities. We are particularly vigilant in the prevention of 
conflicts of interest.  
No member of the assurance team has a business relationship with Apple, its Directors or Managers 
beyond that required of this assignment. We have conducted this verification independently, and there 
has been no conflict of interest.  
The assurance team has extensive experience in conducting verification and assurance over 
environmental, social, ethical and health and safety information, systems and processes, has over 30 
years combined experience in this field and an excellent understanding of Apex standard 
methodology for the Assurance of Sustainability Reports.  
Attestation:  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Trevor A. Donaghu, Lead Assuror  
David Reilly, Technical Reviewer 
Program Manager 
Principal Consultant 
Sustainability and Climate Change Services 
Sustainability and Climate Change Services  
 
March 8, 2022 
 
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INDEPENDENT ASSURANCE STATEMENT 
 
To:  The Stakeholders of Apple Inc. 
 
Introduction and objectives of work  
Apex Companies, LLC (Apex) was engaged by Apple Inc. (Apple) to conduct an independent 
assurance of its Supplier Clean Energy Program data reported in its 2021 environmental report (the 
Report). This assurance statement applies to the related information included within the scope of work 
described below. The intended users of the assurance statement are the stakeholders of Apple. The 
overall aim of this process is to provide assurance to Apple’s stakeholders on the accuracy, reliability 
and objectivity of select information included in the Report.   
This information and its presentation in the Report are the sole responsibility of the management of 
Apple. Apex was not involved in the collection of the information or the drafting of the Report.  
 
Scope of Work  
Apple requested Apex to include in its independent review the following:  
▪ 
Methodology for tracking and verifying supplier clean energy contributions, including the 
Energy Survey, Renewable Energy Agreement, and other forms of supporting documentation 
provided by suppliers where available; 
▪ 
Assurance of Clean Energy Program data and information for the fiscal year 2021 reporting 
period (September 28, 2020 through September 26, 2021), specifically, in accordance with 
Apple’s definitions: 
o 
Energy: Reported megawatt-hours (MWh) of clean energy attributed to the Clean Energy 
Program for suppliers; 
o 
Avoided Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions associated with clean energy attributed to 
the Clean Energy Program; 
o 
Operational Capacity in megawatts (MWac) of clean energy in support of Apple 
manufacturing as a part of Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy Program; 
o 
Appropriateness and robustness of underlying reporting systems and processes, used to 
collect, analyze, and review the information reported.  
Excluded from the scope of our work is any assurance of information relating to: 
▪ 
Text or other written statements associated with the Report 
▪ 
Activities outside the defined assurance period  
Assessment Standards 
Our work was conducted against Apex’s standard procedures and guidelines for external Verification 
of Sustainability Reports, based on current best practice in independent assurance. Apex procedures 
are based on principles and methods described in the International Standard on Assurance 
Engagements (ISAE) 3000 Revised, Assurance Engagements Other than Audits or Reviews of 
Historical Financial Information (effective for assurance reports dated on or after Dec. 15, 2015), 
issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board and ISO 14064-3: Greenhouse 
gases -- Part 3: Specification with guidance for the validation and verification of greenhouse gas 
statements. 
Methodology  
Apex undertook the following activities:  
1. Remote virtual visit to Apple corporate offices in Cupertino, California; 
2. Interviews with relevant personnel of Apple;  
3. Review of internal and external documentary evidence produced by Apple;  
4. Audit of reported data, including a detailed review of a sample of data against source data; 
and 
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5.
Review of Apple information systems for collection, aggregation, analysis and internal
verification and review of environmental data.
The work was planned and carried out to provide reasonable assurance for all indicators and we 
believe it provides an appropriate basis for our conclusions.
Our Findings
Apex verified the following indicators for Apple’s Fiscal Year 2021 reporting period (September 28,
2020 through September 26, 2021):
Parameter
Quantity
Units
Boundary / Protocol
Clean Energy Use
18.6
Million megawatt 
hours (mMWh)
Apple suppliers / Apple 
Internal Protocol
Avoided GHG Emissions
14.24
Million metric tons 
of carbon dioxide 
equivalent
(mMtCO2e)
Apple suppliers / Apple 
Internal Protocol
Operational Capacity
10,596
Megawatts (MWac)
Apple suppliers / Apple 
Internal Protocol
Our Conclusion
Based on the assurance process and procedures conducted, we conclude that:
•
The Clean Energy Use, Avoided GHG Emissions, and Operational Capacity assertions shown
above are materially correct and are a fair representation of the data and information; and
•
Apple has established appropriate systems for the collection, aggregation and analysis of
relevant environmental information, and has implemented underlying internal assurance
practices that provide a reasonable degree of confidence that such information is complete
and accurate.
Statement of independence, integrity and competence
Apex has implemented a Code of Ethics across the business to maintain high ethical standards 
among staff in their day to day business activities. We are particularly vigilant in the prevention of 
conflicts of interest.
No member of the assurance team has a business relationship with Apple, its Directors or Managers 
beyond that required of this assignment. We have conducted this verification independently, and there 
has been no conflict of interest.
The assurance team has extensive experience in conducting verification and assurance over 
environmental, social, ethical and health and safety information, systems and processes, has over 30
years combined experience in this field and an
excellent understanding of Apex standard 
methodology for the Assurance of Sustainability Reports.
Attestation: 
Trevor A. Donaghu, Lead Assuror
Program Manager
Sustainability and Climate Change Services
David Reilly, Technical Reviewer
Principal Consultant
Sustainability and Climate Change Services 
March 8, 2022
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INDEPENDENT ASSURANCE STATEMENT  
 
 
To:  The Stakeholders of Apple Inc. 
 
Introduction and objectives of work  
Apex Companies, LLC (Apex) was engaged by Apple Inc. (Apple) to conduct an independent 
assurance of its Supplier Energy Efficiency Program data.  This assurance statement applies 
to the related information included within the scope of work described below.  The intended 
users of the assurance statement are the stakeholders of Apple. The overall aim of this process 
is to provide assurance to Apple’s stakeholders on the accuracy, reliability and objectivity of the 
reported information.   
This information and its presentation are the sole responsibility of the management of Apple.  
Apex was not involved in the collection of the information or the drafting of the reported 
information.  
 
Scope of work  
Apple requested Apex to include in its independent review the following:  
▪ 
Methodology for tracking and verifying supplier energy efficiency projects, including 
supplier energy audit reports, supplier progress reports, energy efficiency project 
verifications, and other forms of supporting documentation provided by suppliers where 
available; 
▪ 
Assurance of Energy Efficiency Program data and information for the fiscal year 2021 
reporting period (September 28, 2020 through September 26, 2021), specifically, in 
accordance with Apple’s definitions: 
o 
Avoided Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions associated with energy reductions 
attributed to the Energy Efficiency Program; 
o 
Appropriateness and robustness of underlying reporting systems and processes, 
used to collect, analyze, and review the information reported.  
Excluded from the scope of our work is any assurance of information relating to: 
▪ 
Activities outside the defined assurance period. 
 
Methodology  
As part of its independent verification, Apex undertook the following activities:  
1. Interviews with relevant personnel of Apple;  
2. Review of documentary evidence produced by Apple; 
3. Audit of performance data; 
4. Review of Apple’s systems for quantitative data aggregation.  
 
Our work was conducted against Apex’s standard procedures and guidelines for external 
Verification of Sustainability Reports, based on current best practice in independent assurance. 
Apex procedures are based on principles and methods described in the International Standard 
on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 Revised, Assurance Engagements Other than Audits 
or Reviews of Historical Financial Information (effective for assurance reports dated on or after 
Dec. 15, 2015), issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board and ISO 
14064-3: Greenhouse gases -- Part 3: Specification with guidance for the validation and 
verification of greenhouse gas statements. 
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The work was planned and carried out to provide limited, rather than reasonable assurance 
and we believe it provides an appropriate basis for our conclusions.  
 
Our Findings   
Apex verified Avoided Greenhouse Gas emissions for the calendar year and fiscal year 2021 
reporting periods:  
Period 
Quantity 
Units 
Boundary / Protocol 
FY2021  
(9/28/2020-9/26/2021) 
1,1581,364  
Metric tons of 
carbon dioxide 
equivalent 
(MtCO2e) 
Apple suppliers / Apple 
Internal Protocol 
CY2021 
(1/1/2021-12/31/2021) 
Not yet complete 
Metric tons of 
carbon dioxide 
equivalent 
(MtCO2e) 
Apple suppliers / Apple 
Internal Protocol 
 
On the basis of our methodology and the activities described above: 
▪ 
Nothing has come to our attention to indicate that the reviewed emissions data within 
the scope of our verification are inaccurate and the information included therein is not 
fairly stated and have not been prepared in accordance with Apple’s stated protocols 
for the Supplier Energy Efficiency Program;  
▪ 
It is our opinion that Apple has established appropriate systems for the collection, 
aggregation and analysis of quantitative data such as energy and associated GHG 
emissions reductions.  
This independent statement should not be relied upon to detect all errors, omissions or 
misstatements that may exist. 
 
Statement of independence, integrity and competence 
Apex has implemented a Code of Ethics across the business to maintain high ethical standards 
among staff in their day to day business activities. We are particularly vigilant in the prevention 
of conflicts of interest.  
No member of the assurance team has a business relationship with Apple, its Directors or 
Managers beyond that required of this assignment. We have conducted this verification 
independently, and there has been no conflict of interest.  
The assurance team has extensive experience in conducting verification and assurance over 
environmental, social, ethical and health and safety information, systems and processes, has 
over 30 years combined experience in this field and an excellent understanding of Apex  
standard methodology for the Assurance of Sustainability Reports.  
Attestation:  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Trevor A. Donaghu, Lead Assuror  
David Reilly, Technical Reviewer 
Program Manager 
Principal Consultant  
Sustainability and Climate Change Services 
Sustainability and Climate Change 
Services  
 
March 8, 2022 
 
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Review Statement 
Corporate Packaging Plastic Footprint 
Fraunhofer IZM reviewed Apple’s corporate packaging plastic footprint data related to 
corporate packaging plastic usage from products and retail operations in fiscal year 2021. 
1 
Summary 
This review checks transparency of data and calculations, appropriateness of supporting 
product and packaging related data and assumptions, and overall plausibility of the 
calculated corporate annual packaging plastic footprint of Apple products shipped in fiscal 
year 2021 and of retail operations in the same period.  
As there is no standardised method available for calculating a packaging plastic footprint 
Apple defined a methodology for internal use. The scope of the plastic packaging footprint 
includes Apple’s corporate packaging plastic usage from products and retail operations. 
The packaging plastic footprint tracks the total amount of plastic, adhesives, and ink, that 
Apple uses in packaging. Apple obtains and analyses supplier-specific data for each product 
line and sums up these figures for the entire company using sell-in numbers. For some 
products, a representative supplier is chosen to calculate the product-specific packaging. 
The output is a total packaging plastic footprint.  
The review of the corporate annual packaging plastic footprint has considered the 
following criteria: 

The system boundaries are clearly defined

Assumptions and estimations made are appropriate

Use of supplier data is appropriate and methodologies used are adequately
disclosed
Data reported by Apple is as follows: 
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2021 
Total Plastic 
Packaging Plastic 
Retail Bags 
Plastic 
12,700
12,500
200 
Plastic w/o 
adhesives 
9,200 
9,200 
–  
 
[metric tons plastic] 
[metric tons plastic] 
[metric tons plastic] 
 
All results and figures reviewed for fiscal year 2021 are plausible. 
 
2 
Reviewed Data and Findings 
As part of this review Apple disclosed following data to Fraunhofer IZM:  
 Calculation methodology for the corporate packaging plastic footprint 
 Sales data for FY2021, including accessories 
 Selected product and supplier specific data on packaging materials and production 
yields  
 Aggregated packaging plastic data for all products and the total corporate 
packaging plastic footprint for the fiscal year 2021 
The methodology paper provided by Apple (Packaging Plastic Footprint at Apple – 
Methodology Description – V1.0) in 2018, is considered a sound and appropriate guidance 
for determining the company packaging plastic. Where appropriate, this approach follows 
methodological principles applied for state-of-the-art Life Cycle Assessments.  
This review comprises a check of packaging plastic data for selected products (iPhone 13 
mini and iPhone 12). 
Plausibility of some data has been questioned and discussed with Apple in detail. No 
corrections were needed.  
This review was done remotely. All questions raised in the course of the review were 
answered by Apple and related evidence was provided where needed.   
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Based on the process and procedures conducted, there is no evidence that the corporate 
packaging plastic footprint is not materially correct and is not a fair representation of 
plastic data and information. The excellent analysis meets the principles of good scientific 
practice. 
 
Berlin, March 24, 2022 
  
 
- Marina Proske - 
 
- Karsten Schischke - 
Fraunhofer IZM 
 
Fraunhofer IZM 
Dept. Environmental and 
Dept. Environmental and  
Reliability Engineering  
Reliability Engineering 
 
 
 
 
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Review Statement 
Comprehensive Fiber Footprint 
Fraunhofer IZM reviewed Apple’s comprehensive fiber footprint data related to corporate 
fiber usage from products, corporate, and retail operations in fiscal year 2021.  
1 
Summary 
This review checks transparency of data and calculations, appropriateness of supporting 
product and packaging related data and assumptions, and overall plausibility of the 
calculated corporate annual fiber footprint of Apple products shipped in fiscal year 2021 
and of corporate and retail operations in the same period.  
As there is no standardised method available for calculating a product or company fiber 
footprint Apple defined a methodology for internal use. The scope of the Fiber Footprint 
includes Apple’s corporate fiber usage from products, corporate, and retail operations. The 
fiber footprint tracks the total amount of wood, bamboo, and bagasse fiber, both virgin 
and recycled, that Apple uses in packaging, and other paper products. Apple obtains and 
analyses supplier-specific data for each product line and sums up these figures for the 
entire company using sell-in numbers. For some products, a representative supplier is 
chosen to calculate the product-specific packaging. The output is a total fiber footprint.  
The review of the corporate annual fiber footprint has considered the following criteria: 

The system boundaries are clearly defined

Assumptions and estimations made are appropriate

Use of supplier data is appropriate and methodologies used are adequately
disclosed
Data reported by Apple is as follows: 
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2021 
Total Fiber 
Virgin Fiber 
Recycled Fiber 
Packaging Fiber 
247,100 
84,800 
162,300 
Retail Bag Fiber 
8,200 
7,200 
1,000 
Corporate Fiber
400
300
100
Total 
255,700
92,300
163,400
[metric tons fiber] 
[metric tons fiber] 
[metric tons fiber] 
 
All results and figures reviewed for fiscal year 2021 are plausible. 
 
2 
Reviewed Data and Findings 
As part of this review Apple disclosed following data to Fraunhofer IZM:  
 Calculation methodology for the corporate fiber footprint 
 Sales data for FY2021, including accessories 
 Aggregated fiber data for all products and the total corporate fiber footprint for 
the fiscal year 2021 
The methodology paper (Fiber Footprint at Apple - Methodology Description - V1.1) 
provided by Apple and reviewed in 2017, is considered a sound and appropriate guidance 
for determining the company fiber footprint. Where appropriate, this approach follows 
methodological principles applied for state-of-the-art Life Cycle Assessments. 
This review comprises a check of packaging fiber data for selected products (iPhone 12 and 
iPhone 13 mini). 
Plausibility of some data has been questioned and discussed with Apple in detail. 
Corrections were made accordingly.  
This review was done remotely. All questions raised in the course of the review were 
answered by Apple. 
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Based on the process and procedures conducted, there is no evidence that the corporate 
fiber footprint is not materially correct and is not a fair representation of fiber data and 
information.  
 
Berlin, March 17, 2022 
  
 
- Marina Proske - 
 
- Karsten Schischke - 
Fraunhofer IZM 
 
Fraunhofer IZM 
Dept. Environmental and 
Dept. Environmental and  
Reliability Engineering  
Reliability Engineering 
 
 
 
 
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Mission Statement
Apple Inc. is committed to protecting the environment, health and safety (EHS) of our employees, contractors, and customers in the 
design, research, manufacture, distribution and use of our products and services and the global communities where we operate.
We recognize that by integrating sound EHS management practices into all aspects of our business, we can offer technologically 
innovative products and services while conserving and enhancing resources for future generations. 
Apple strives for continuous improvement in our EHS management systems and in the environmental quality of our products, 
processes, and services.
Guiding Principles
Meet or exceed all applicable EHS requirements.
Where laws and regulations do not provide adequate controls, apply higher standards to protect human health and the environment.
Design, manage and operate our facilities safely, promote energy efficiency and renewable energy, and protect biodiversity and 
the environment.
Encourage contractors, vendors and suppliers to provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, act fairly 
and ethically, use environmentally responsible practices, and have effective programs for the control of environmental aspects, 
wherever they perform services for Apple.
Support and promote sound scientific principles, practices, and public policy initiatives, that enhance environmental quality, health 
and safety performance and ethical sourcing of materials.
Communicate EHS policies and programs to Apple employees and stakeholders and ensure suppliers operate in accordance 
with Apple’s Supplier Code of Conduct. Supplier Responsibility resources and Code available at https://www.apple.com/supplier-
responsibility.
Strive to create products that are safe in their intended use, conserve energy and materials, and prevent pollution throughout the 
product life cycle including design, manufacture, use and end of life management.
Pursue continual improvement though the evaluation of our EHS performance by monitoring ongoing performance results and 
through periodic management reviews, and a commitment to correcting EHS nonconformities.
Ensure that all employees are aware of their role and responsibility to fulfill and sustain Apple’s EHS management systems and 
policy by providing training and tools in the user’s primary language. 
Luca Maestri	
 
Senior Vice President and CFO 
February 2022
Environment, Health,  
and Safety Policy
Appendix D
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ISO 14001 certification
Apple operates manufacturing facilities in Cork, Ireland. We certify 100 percent of 
these facilities with ISO 14001.
Appendix E
 
 
 
Certificate of Registration 
of Environmental Management 
System to I.S. EN ISO 14001:2015 
Apple Operations Europe 
Hollyhill Industrial Estate 
Hollyhill 
Cork 
Ireland 
  
NSAI certifies that the aforementioned company has been assessed and 
deemed to comply with the provisions of the standard referred to above in 
respect of:- 
 
The management of all EMEA operational activities related to manufacturing, 
sales, delivery and after sales support for direct retail and channel customers  
 
 
  
Approved by: 
Stewart Hickey 
Head - Business Excellence, NSAI 
 
 
 
Registration Number: 14.0202 
Original Registration: 20 March 2001 
Last amended on:  14 July 2021 
Valid from: 14 July 2021 
Remains valid to: 10 July 2024 
 
This certificate remains valid on condition 
that the Approved Environmental 
Management System is maintained in an 
adequate and efficacious manner.   NSAI is a 
partner of IQNet – the international 
certification network (www.iqnet-
certification.com) 
Partner of 
 
 
All valid certifications are listed on NSAI’s website – www.nsai.ie.  The continued validity of this certificate 
may be verified under “Certified Company Search” 
 
NSAI (National Standards Authority of Ireland), 1 Swift Square, Northwood, Santry, Dublin 9, Ireland T +353 1 807 3800 E: info@nsai.ie www.nsai.ie 
 
 
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CERT-067.14001: MMA IQNet NSAI 14001 2015 A4 (1) 
 
CERTIFICATE 
NSAI has issued an IQNet recognised certificate that the organisation: 
 
Apple Operations Europe 
Hollyhill Industrial Estate 
Hollyhill 
Cork 
Ireland 
 
has implemented and maintains a 
 
Environmental Management System 
 
for the following scope: 
 
The management of all EMEA operational activities related to manufacturing, sales, 
delivery and after sales support for direct retail and channel customers. 
 
which fulfils the requirements of the following standard: 
 
I.S. EN ISO 14001:2015 
 
Issued on: 14 July 2021 
First issued on: 20 March 2001 
Expires on: 10 July 2024 
 
This attestation is directly linked to the IQNet Partner’s original certificate and shall not be 
used as a stand-alone document 
 
Registration Number: IE-14.0202 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Alex Stoichitoiu 
President of IQNet 
 
 Stewart Hickey 
Head – Business Excellence, NSAI 
 
IQNet Partners*: 
AENOR Spain  AFNOR Certification France   APCER Portugal  CCC Cyprus  CISQ Italy   CQC China  CQM China  CQS Czech 
Republic  Cro Cert Croatia  DQS Holding GmbH Germany  FCAV Brazil  FONDONORMA Venezuela  ICONTEC Colombia   
Inspecta Sertifiointi Oy Finland  INTECO Costa Rica  IRAM Argentina  JQA Japan  KFQ Korea  MIRTEC Greece  MSZT Hungary  
Nemko AS Norway  NSAI Ireland  NYCE-SIGE México  PCBC Poland  Quality Austria Austria  RR Russia  SII Israel  SIQ Slovenia   
SIRIM QAS International Malaysia  SQS Switzerland  SRAC Romania  TEST St Petersburg Russia  TSE Turkey  YUQS Serbia 
IQNet is represented in the USA by: AFNOR Certification, CISQ, DQS Holding GmbH and NSAI Inc. 
 
** The list of IQNet partners is valid at the time of issue of this certificate. Updated information is available under www.iqnet-
certification.com 
 
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About this report
This report is published annually, typically in April, and focuses primarily on fiscal year activities. This report addresses 
environmental impacts and activities at Apple facilities (corporate offices, data centers, and retail stores), as well as the life cycle 
impacts of our products, including in the manufacturing, transportation, use, and end-of-life phases. To provide feedback on this 
report, please contact environment-report@apple.com.
Reporting year
We track our environmental progress based on Apple’s fiscal year. When referencing years in the report, if fiscal year is not 
specified, we are referring to activities within the calendar year. 
Data assurance
We obtain third-party verification for some of the information in this report from Apex Companies and the Fraunhofer Institute 
in Germany. Data in this report, including data or verification from third parties, reflects estimates using methodologies and 
assumptions believed to be reasonable and accurate. Those estimates, methodologies, and assumptions may change in the future 
as a result of new information or subsequent developments. In addition, recycled content claims for materials used in our products 
have been verified by an independent third party to a recycled content standard that conforms to ISO 14021. Product claims are 
accurate as of product launch.
Forward-looking statements
The report does not cover all information about our business. References in this report to information should not be construed 
as a characterization regarding the materiality of such information to our financial results or for purposes of the U.S. securities 
laws. While certain matters discussed in this report may be significant, any significance should not be read as necessarily rising to 
the level of materiality used for the purposes of complying with the U.S. federal securities laws and regulations. The information 
covered by the report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 
1995, including statements regarding our environmental goals, commitments, and strategies and related business and stakeholder 
impacts. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from any future results expressed 
or implied by the forward-looking statements. 
These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, any failure to meet stated environmental goals and commitments, and 
execute our strategies in the time frame expected or at all, global sociodemographic and economic trends, changing government 
regulations, technological innovations, climate-related conditions and weather events, our ability to gather and verify data regarding 
environmental impacts, the compliance of various third parties with our policies and procedures, and our expansion into new 
products, services, technologies, and geographic regions. More information on risks, uncertainties, and other potential factors that 
could affect our business and performance is included in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including 
in the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of 
the company’s most recently filed periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q and subsequent filings. We assume no obligation, 
and expressly disclaim any duty (including in response to new or changed information) to update any forward-looking statements 
or information, which speak as of their respective dates. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking 
statements made in this report. Moreover, many of the assumptions, standards, metrics, and measurements used in preparing this 
report continue to evolve and are based on assumptions believed to be reasonable at the time of preparation, but should not be 
considered guarantees. Given the inherent uncertainty of the estimates, assumptions, and timelines contained in this report, we 
may not be able to anticipate whether or the degree to which we will be able to meet our plans, targets, or goals in advance.
Report notes
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For more information
Learn more about Apple’s efforts to advance initiatives across Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) topics in our ESG Report.
Respect for human rights shapes how we make our products and services. Our responsibilities go beyond our stores and corporate offices:  
They extend to our supply chain, the communities we’re a part of, and the planet we all share. Read about Apple’s Commitment to Human Rights.
Apple’s Racial Equity and Justice Initiative aims to help dismantle systemic barriers to opportunity and combat injustices faced by communities 
of color.
Read more about our work to uphold the highest standards of labor and human rights, health and safety, and environmental stewardship across 
our global supply chain in our 2022 Annual Progress Report.
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Climate Change
1.	
Apple’s 2030 goals refer to the end of fiscal year 2029. 
2.	
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Press Release: Summary for Policymakers of IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C approved by governments. 
https://www.ipcc.ch/2018/10/08/summary-for-policymakers-of-ipcc-special-report-on-global-warming-of-1-5c-approved-by-governments/ 
3.	
Refer to Appendix A for a description of our methodology for calculating life cycle carbon emissions.
4.	
IPCC, 2018: Summary for Policymakers. In: Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related 
global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate 
poverty [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, H.-O. Pörtner, D. Roberts, J. Skea, P.R. Shukla, A. Pirani, W. Moufouma-Okia, C. Péan, R. Pidcock, S. Connors, J.B.R. Matthews, Y. Chen, X. 
Zhou, M.I. Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor, and T. Waterfield (eds.)]. World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 32 pp. The Science Based Targets initiative 
(SBTi) has validated the following emissions reduction target for Apple: 61.7 percent by fiscal year 2030 relative to our fiscal year 2019 emissions. This SBTi-validated target is 
derived from our target to reduce emissions by 75 percent by fiscal year 2030 — only with a 2019 base year, instead of 2015.
5.	
The result is a gross footprint of 23.2 million metric tons (after accounting for the additional REC purchase), and a net carbon footprint of 22.5 million metric tons (after 
accounting for the purchase of carbon offsets).
6.	
Gross carbon footprint refers to Apple’s carbon footprint before applying carbon offsets. Our net carbon footprint incorporates carbon offsets.
7.	
Testing conducted by Apple in October 2020 using a preproduction Mac mini with Apple M1 chip, 8GB of memory, 256GB SSD, and LG UltraFine 5K Display, and a shipping 
Mac mini with a quad‑core Intel Core i3 processor, 8GB of memory, 256GB SSD, and LG UltraFine 5K Display. Energy consumption was measured during wireless browsing of 
top websites.
8.	
Based on sales-weighted averages of Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, Apple TV, HomePod, AirPods, and Beats.
9.	
Eligible products are those in a product category for which ENERGY STAR certification exists. For more information, visit www.energystar.gov. ENERGY STAR and the ENERGY 
STAR mark are registered trademarks owned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
10.	 Calculated in accordance with the SASB standard, metric TC-HW-410a.2. Apple lists eligible products sold in the United States and Canada on the Electronic Product 
Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) Registry. To calculate this metric, we considered “eligible for the EPEAT Registry” all products sold globally that correspond to those 
listed on the EPEAT Registry. Eligible products are those in a product category for which EPEAT registration exists, which includes desktop computers, notebook computers, 
computer displays, and mobile phones. For more information, visit www.epeat.net.
11.	 Testing was conducted by Apple in February 2022 using preproduction Mac Studio systems with Apple M1 Ultra with 20-core CPU and 64-core GPU. Power was measured 
using a representative workload in a commercial application. High-end PC desktop data comes from testing Alienware Aurora R13 with Core i9-12900KF and GeForce RTX 
3090. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Studio.
12.	 Testing conducted by Apple in October 2020 using a preproduction Mac mini with Apple M1 chip, 8GB of memory, 256GB SSD, and LG UltraFine 5K Display, and a shipping 
Mac mini with a quad‑core Intel Core i3 processor, 8GB of memory, 256GB SSD, and LG UltraFine 5K Display. Energy consumption was measured during wireless browsing of 
top websites.
13.	 Efficiency performance is based on the U.S. Department of Energy Federal Energy Conservation Standards for Battery Chargers. Energy efficiency terms: The energy efficiency 
values are based on the following conditions:
	
– Power adapter, no-load: Condition in which the Apple USB Power Adapter with the USB-C to Lightning Cable (1m) is connected to AC power, but not connected to iPhone. 
	
– Power adapter efficiency: Average of the Apple 20W USB Power Adapter with the USB-C to Lightning Cable (1m) measured efficiency when tested at 100 percent, 75 percent, 
50 percent, and 25 percent of the power adapter’s rated output current. 
14.	 While we saw some reductions in energy use resulting from office shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, we also recognize that energy use at our employees’ homes likely 
increased during this period. We did not build out new methodologies to account for this increased energy use, because it was temporary in nature. We will continue to revisit this 
into the future. 
15.	 Greenhouse gas reporting is included in Apple’s Supplier Code of Conduct and Supplier Responsibility Standards.
16.	 “Apple-created project” percentages don’t add up to 100 due to rounding.
17. 	 FY2021 renewable electricity figures associated with Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy Program do not include REC purchases Apple made to address a small increase to its carbon 
footprint. When accounting for the REC purchases, the total renewable energy online in Apple’s supply chain was 10.6 gigawatts, generating 18.6 million megawatt-hours and 
avoiding 14.24 million metric tons of carbon emissions.
18.	 Elysis was used in the production of the 16-inch MacBook Pro that was released in 2019. The 16-inch MacBook Pro released in 2021 now features a 100% recycled 
aluminum enclosure. 
19.	 Rogelj, J., D. Shindell, K. Jiang, S. Fifita, P. Forster, V. Ginzburg, C. Handa, H. Kheshgi, S. Kobayashi, E. Kriegler, L. Mundaca, R. Séférian, and M.V.Vilariño, 2018: Mitigation Pathways 
Compatible with 1.5°C in the Context of Sustainable Development. In: Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above 
pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable 
development, and efforts to eradicate poverty [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, H.-O. Pörtner, D. Roberts, J. Skea, P.R. Shukla, A. Pirani, W. Moufouma-Okia, C. Péan, R. Pidcock, 
S. Connors, J.B.R. Matthews, Y. Chen, X. Zhou, M.I. Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor, and T. Waterfield (eds.)]. In Press. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/
sites/2/2019/02/SR15_Chapter2_Low_Res.pdf
End notes
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Resources
1.	
As of the end of fiscal year 2021, all established sub-assembly/module supplier sites — or those that have been Apple suppliers for more than one year — for major components 
including display, speaker, battery, housing, Taptic Engine, antenna, SiP, band, charger, and packaging are third-party verified as Zero Waste by UL LLC (UL 2799 Standard). Sub-
assembly/module suppliers are those that assemble modules prior to final assembly of Apple products. These suppliers are also commonly referred to as Tier 1 suppliers. UL 
requires at least 90 percent diversion through methods other than waste to energy to achieve Zero Waste to Landfill (Silver 90–94 percent, Gold 95–99 percent, and Platinum 
100 percent) designations.
2.	
Includes the 13-inch MacBook Air, Apple TV 4K, 13-inch MacBook Pro, Mac mini, iPad mini, 11-inch iPad Pro, iPad, and the 24-inch iMac. Recycled content accounts for materials 
that are third-party certified and supplier reported. The actual total recycled content may be higher given industry-average recycled content not included here.
3.	
Total recycled material shipped in products is driven by product material composition and total sales, and may fluctuate based on the number and type of products sold 
each year.
4.	
Recycling makes better use of finite resources by sourcing from recovered rather than mined materials. We ask our suppliers to have recycled content verified by an independent 
third party to a standard that conforms to ISO 14021.
5.	
We define bio-materials as those that can be regenerated in a human lifespan, like paper fibers or sugarcane. Bio-materials can help us use fewer finite resources. But even 
though bio-materials have the ability to regrow, they are not always managed responsibly. Renewable materials are a type of bio-material managed in a way that enables 
continuous production without depleting earth’s resources. That’s why we focus on sources that are certified for their management practices.
6.	
Compares carbon footprint of aluminum from recycled sources to primary aluminum smelted with electricity generated from coal.
7.	
This achievement was made in 2022 so is not reflected in the total estimated recycled content, which captures fiscal year 2021 data.
8.	
This achievement was made in 2022 so is not reflected in the total estimated recycled content, which captures fiscal year 2021 data.
9.	
Plastic packaging components refer to any packaging part made of majority plastic, including plastic wraps, plastic trays, or plastic screen films. Some plastic is still found on 
packaging components made primarily of fiber.
10.	 Refers to retail packaging.
11.	 Standard applies to retail packaging and shippers, and excludes plastic-based components, wraps, and adhesives.
12.	 Responsible sourcing of wood fiber is defined in Apple’s Sustainable Fiber Specification (PDF).
13.	 Based on expected equivalent fiber production from our forestry projects and virgin fiber used for Apple product packaging. To determine the output of Apple’s projects, we 
work with our partners to understand the productive potential of these working forests. The forest management plans required to achieve or maintain certification limit harvest 
volumes to sustainable levels. We use these potential harvest volumes to estimate the sustainable productive capacity of these forests.
14.	 Turner, Ash, “2020–2021’s Phone Depreciation Report,” BankMyCell.
15.	 This applies specifically to our U.S.-based Trade In program.
16.	 Owners of iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, or Apple TV products may obtain service and parts from Apple service providers, including Apple Retail Stores and Independent Repair 
Providers, for a minimum of 5 years from when Apple last distributed the product for sale. Service and parts may be obtained for longer, as required by law or for up to 7 years, 
subject to parts availability. Additionally, Mac notebooks may be eligible for an extended battery-only repair period for up to 10 years from when the product was last distributed 
for sale, subject to parts availability.
17.	 Refurbished products are not available in all countries.
18.	 Estimated based on rock-to-metal ratios from USGS — a change from our previous report, which used ore-to-metal ratios — and on recovery rates from iPhone main logic 
boards and flexes. 
19.	 Apple is willing to license five patents relating to Daisy and certain other associated IP on reasonable, royalty-free terms.
20.	 Estimated based on rock-to-metal ratios from USGS — a change from our previous report, which used ore-to-metal ratios — and on recovery rates from iPhone main logic 
boards and flexes. 
21.	 Compares carbon footprint of aluminum from recycled sources to primary aluminum smelted with electricity generated from coal.
22.	 The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal.
23.	 Compares carbon footprint of aluminum from recycled sources to primary aluminum smelted with electricity generated from coal.
24.	 We define high risk as those areas with high or extremely high overall water risk based on the WRI Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas tool.
25.	 These savings do not include reduction in water use from facility closures and reduced occupancy due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We consider those savings temporary and 
also acknowledge that the water use was transferred to employees’ homes. 
26.	 We are now accounting for savings through this program on a fiscal year basis, rather than a calendar year basis as was reported in previous years.
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27.	 This total includes freshwater use as well as alternative water sources including recycled water, rainwater, and recovered condensate. We define freshwater as drinking-water 
quality, the majority of which comes from municipal sources and less than 5 percent comes from onsite groundwater sources. Recycled water represents a key alternative 
water source. Our recycled water is sourced primarily from municipal treatment plants, with less than 5 percent from onsite treatment. Recycled water is primarily used for 
irrigation, make-up water in cooling, or toilet flushing. Other alternative sources of freshwater include rainwater and recovered condensate that is captured onsite. Water used for 
construction for activities like dust control is not included in this total, and represents 13 million gallons of water used in fiscal year 2021. Our actual water discharge may vary by 
10 percent relative to our estimates. In these estimates, we’ve taken into account consumptive activities including irrigation and cooling towers.
28.	 We calculate water discharge based on known evaporation, from activities like cooling and irrigation. For sites where these evaporative activities are not present we estimate 
that water withdrawn is returned to municipal systems. We estimate our margin of error to be approximately 10 percent, and will continue to update our model with new sources 
of data.
29.	 Includes total water stored within aquifer for use by multiple different parties contributing to the project.
30.	 Waste diversion rates do not include construction and demolition waste or electronic waste for fiscal year 2020. Electronic waste is accounted for in the total metric tons of 
electronic waste we sent to recycling found on page 49. 
31.	 Our Mesa and Prineville data centers are third-party certified as Zero Waste by USGBC TRUE. TRUE requires 90 percent diversion or higher from the landfill without the use of 
waste-to-energy to achieve Zero Waste to Landfill.
32.	 This waste-to-energy option is not yet available to sites in Alaska and Hawaii. 
33.	 These sites have been third-party verified by UL LLC against the UL 2799 Standard. UL requires at least 90 percent diversion through methods other than waste to energy to 
achieve Zero Waste to Landfill (Silver 90–94 percent, Gold 95–99 percent, and Platinum 100 percent) designations.
34.	 All established final assembly supplier sites — or those that have been Apple suppliers for more than one year — for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, AirPods, HomePod, Apple 
TV, and Beats are third-party verified as Zero Waste by UL LLC (UL 2799 Standard). UL requires at least 90 percent diversion through methods other than waste to energy to 
achieve Zero Waste to Landfill (Silver 90–94 percent, Gold 95–99 percent, and Platinum 100 percent) designations. 
35.	 As of the end of fiscal year 2021, all established sub-assembly/module supplier sites — or those that have been Apple suppliers for more than one year — for major components 
including display, speaker, battery, housing, Taptic Engine, antenna, SiP, band, charger, and packaging are third-party verified as Zero Waste by UL LLC (UL 2799 Standard). Sub-
assembly/module suppliers are those that assemble modules prior to final assembly of Apple products. These suppliers are also commonly referred to as Tier 1 suppliers. UL 
requires at least 90 percent diversion through methods other than waste to energy to achieve Zero Waste to Landfill (Silver 90–94 percent, Gold 95–99 percent, and Platinum 
100 percent) designations.
	
Smarter Chemistry 
1.	
Most recent Mind the Store rating was released in 2021.
2.	
The Mind the Store ranking for 2022 has not yet been released.
3.	
The Mind the Store ranking for 2022 has not yet been released.
© 2022 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries and regions. Beats is a trademark of Beats 
Electronics, LLC., registered in the U.S. and other countries and regions. iOS is a trademark or registered trademark of Cisco in the U.S. and other countries and is used under license. 
ENERGY STAR and the ENERGY STAR mark are registered trademarks owned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Other product and company names mentioned herein 
may be trademarks of their respective companies. 
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