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Apple has announced a major expansion of its renewable investments in Europe As part of efforts to reduce the carbon footprint caused by customers powering and charging its devices.
The tech giant is backing several large-scale solar and wind farms that are currently in development in Greece, Italy. latvia, romania And Poland.
This builds on its previously announced investment in the Castaño solar farm outside Spanish The city of Segovia, which began operations earlier this year and can power about 76,500 homes.
While these projects will provide electricity directly to the grids in their respective countries, Apple said the amount they generate will contribute to its corporate climate goals.
With the help of this new clean energy capacity, the company aims to match 100% of the electricity used by its customers in Europe, including the UK, to power or charge their devices by 2030.
It comes as part of Apple’s broader goal to become carbon neutral across its entire value chain – its operations, supply chain and the products it sells – by the end of the decade.
Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, said: “By 2030, we want our users to know that not all of the energy it takes to charge their iPhone or power their Mac comes from clean electricity.
“Our new projects in Europe will help us achieve our ambitious Apple 2030 goals, while also contributing to healthy communities, thriving economies and secure energy sources across the continent.”
According to the firm’s own calculations, the energy used to charge devices would account for about 29% of Apple’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2024.
This does not include the electricity needed for its data centers, which the company said are already powered by renewable electricity.
To reach its 2030 ambitions in Europe, Apple estimates it will need to bring 3,000 GWh of renewable energy online per year, equivalent to the electricity customers use for charging.
The projects announced Tuesday will make up a third of this by producing more than 1,000 gigawatts per year, with Apple saying it will continue to expand its renewable investments in Europe beyond 2030.
The tech giant has recently come under scrutiny over its environmental claims amid concerns over some nature-based projects it has invested in to offset emissions.
In August a German court ruled that advertisements touting the Apple Watch as carbon neutral were misleading, and the company is currently fighting a class action over a similar issue in the US.
Asked about the legal matters, Ms Jackson told the PA news agency: “We welcome scrutiny of what we are doing and we are trying to be as transparent as possible about how we are doing it.
“When we talk about our products, when we talk about our company, we were absolutely clear that we intend to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.”
Asked how the company balances communicating its climate ambitions with the risk of greenwashing, he said: “Look, we know the work we’re doing – I do – and we have an obligation to explain that work.
“We were proud to do this with our carbon neutral products.
“Unfortunately, we can no longer talk about them that way but we will never stop talking about the work we do and our customers should expect the same from us.”
Apple is promoting its investments in renewable energy at a time when many companies are backing away from climate action and political consensus is fragmenting in the US as well as the UK and Europe.
On how the company is dealing with political rifts, Ms Jackson said: “It is important to note that we have always viewed clean energy work as part of our business decisions.
“So we invest in businesses, and those businesses are investing, not out of the goodness of their hearts, but because they see an opportunity to do business, which is to make money by selling the energy that comes from these projects.
“So I think what’s important for us is to embrace clean energy as part of the way our company operates, part of our values, and we’re continuing to do that.”
Apple said it is prioritizing projects in regions and countries where it can maximize impact, such as Poland, which has a more carbon intensity grid than some of its neighbors.
The firm facilitates the construction of projects through a variety of mechanisms, including long-term power purchase agreements that provide developers with certainty of securing financing with proof of buyer, as well as some straight-running projects and some equity investments.
So far, Apple said its involvement in the projects announced on Tuesday has helped raise $600 million (£450 million) of funding.
The company has signed a long-term agreement to purchase power from a 110MW solar project in Greece, and is also supporting the development of a 129MW portfolio of wind and solar projects in Italy, as well as a 40MW solar array in Poland.
Elsewhere, it plans to buy power from Nala Renewables’ 99MW wind farm in Romania’s Galati County and has signed a power purchase agreement for power from a 110 MW solar farm in Latvia.