Apple has been bigging up its green credentials in recent months, marking all its new products against an eco-friendly checklist, and steadily reducing harmful or non-recyclable materials used in their creation. Now it’s delivering another salvo in its battle for acceptance by the tree-hugging brigade, by changing its eco reporting to account for the carbon footprint of its products themselves.
Launching a new website at apple.com/environment/ the Mac-maker is reporting eco statistics in a new way. While the majority of tech firms stop measuring their environmental impact once a product leaves its factory, Apple’s taking into account the entire life-cycle of a Mac, iPod or iPhone. That means weighing up its carbon footprint in use, as well as manufacture.
It’s a neat idea, and one that throws up some interesting findings. For example, by reducing the power used by components in a product and focussing on energy-saving software, Apple reckons it can offset the more immediate damage of the manufacturing process over time. It claims the use of Apple-branded products by consumers actually accounts for 53% of its greenhouse gas emissions, which is why it’s striving to make them as efficient as possible.
The new Apple Environment site is an interesting read. It spells out each of the company’s green initiatives, from reducing packaging size to using longer-lasting batteries and even throttling down processors in Macs between key-presses.
Steve Jobs and Co have come under increasing pressure from eco campaigners recently. Whether the latest drive towards environmental responsibility will reduce that pressure remains to be seen.
Out now | £TBC | Apple
