Apple turns manufacturing process green with WWF China partnership

Apple is partnering with the World Wildlife Fund to help protect as much as 1 million acres of forests responsible for pulp, paper and wood products in China.

This is part of the tech conglomerate’s mission to take all its global operations off-the-grid. Although as 87% of Apple’s global operations is already run on renewable energy, which include its offices, data centres and stores, the multinational  is now looking to green up its manufacturing processes as well.

“We’ve set an example by greening our data centres, retail stores and corporate offices, and we’re ready to start leading the way toward reducing carbon emissions from manufacturing,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO in a press release. “This won’t happen overnight—in fact it will take years—but it’s important work that has to happen, and Apple is in a unique position to take the initiative toward this ambitious goal. It is a responsibility we accept. We are excited to work with leaders in our supply chain who want to be on the cutting edge of China’s green transformation.”

China is responsible for the bulk of Apple’s product manufacturing and is also by far the largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world.

“Forests, like energy, can be renewable resources,” added Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environmental Initiatives. “We believe we can run on naturally renewable resources and ensure that we protect—and create—as much sustainable working forest as needed to produce the virgin paper in our product packaging. This is an important step toward that goal and our commitment to leave the world better than we found it.”

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Three weeks ago Apple also announced two new 20-megawatt solar farms in China’s Sinchuan Province which will further help fulfil this vision of becoming self-sustainable manufacturing giant and brining its carbon emissions down to zero.

From manufacturing to consumers, Apple’s hook into its biggest target market is only getting deeper. The company’s plan is to boost its store count from 16 to 40 within the next two years comes to little surprise as revenue jumped a massive 71% to US$16.82-billion in the last year.