Apple has released its Environmental Responsibility Report for 2015, providing an update on the company’s progress toward becoming more eco-friendly during the 2014 fiscal year. The report emphasizes Apple’s use of clean energy sources like solar, wind, bio gas fuel cells and geothermal to power all of its U.S. data centers and 87 percent of those worldwide, but admits the company and its suppliers still emitted 34.2 metric tons of greenhouse gases last year, mostly from manufacturing processes. Apple is designing new buildings with more efficient lighting, air conditioning and plumbing to drive its carbon footprint lower, and is encouraging employees to cut pollution from their commute.
Apple’s new headquarters is being built with 95 percent recycled materials, and last week Apple announced a partnership with The Conservation Fund to conserve more than 36,000 acres of working forests in the hopes of producing packaging for all its products sustainably. The company is also running recycling programs in 99 percent of countries where Apple products are sold, diverting more than 508 million pounds of electronic waste from landfills since 2008. Apple stores accept any Apple product for recycling free of charge.
The report also discloses that Apple has removed toxins like PVC, brominated flame retardants, beryllium and phthalates from its products and has put pressure on suppliers to identify energy savings in their own facilities, which account for 72 percent of the carbon emissions related to Apple products. Once the devices leave the supplier, Apple says its focus on efficient charging, including power-efficient hardware and smarter power management software, is reducing consumers’ carbon footprint as well. Apple claims its devices far exceed Energy Star guidelines and estimates new Apple devices have reduced the greenhouse emissions directly related to Apple devices by 61 percent since 2008.