Apple Accused Of 'Climate-Washing' By Chinese Research Organization — But Cupertino Has A Reply

In a surprising turn of events, Apple Inc. AAPL‘s recent declaration of its new Apple Watch being “carbon neutral” has been put under scrutiny by a Chinese environmental research organization.

What Happened: The Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), a Beijing-based non-profit, has raised questions about the authenticity of Apple’s carbon neutral claim for its Apple Watch, reported Inside Climate News.

Apple had earlier acknowledged IPE as a foremost non-profit environmental research organization. The organization accused Apple of overstating its climate change mitigation efforts, a practice referred to as “climate-washing”.

In response, Apple maintained that the carbon neutrality of its Apple Watch series was independently validated by SCS Global Services, an environmental standards certification authority. The tech giant stressed its commitment to renewable energy and its ongoing cooperative initiatives with suppliers to boost renewable energy use.

However, IPE's report contended that Apple’s supplier transparency was lacking, particularly for those involved in manufacturing Apple products. It pointed out Apple’s heavy reliance on buying renewable energy certificates instead of directly using renewable energy. The effectiveness of these certificates has been a subject of debate.

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Furthermore, the report implied that Apple could be assigning more renewable energy to its watches, which could lead to higher emissions for other products such as iPhones. Apple dismissed this allegation, stating that it did not shift renewable energy from iPhones or other products to the Apple Watch.

Joseph Romm, a senior research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media, supported the findings of the report and criticized Apple’s interpretation of carbon neutrality and its reliance on carbon offsets.

Why It Matters: This comes in the wake of Apple’s recent launch of the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 earlier in September. The new watches, boasting improved speed and performance, were unveiled alongside the iPhone 15 series at the ‘Wonderlust’ event.

Apple’s iPhone 15 series, featuring upgrades like the USB-C port, was also announced at the same event. The dispute over the carbon neutral claim for the Apple Watch raises questions about the environmental impact of Apple’s other new products.

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