Environmental Action Germany Accuses Apple of Greenwashing
Environmental Action Germany (Deutsche Umwelthilfe – DUH) has filed an injunction in state court in Frankfurt am Main against the Ireland-based subsidiary of the Apple corporation. The environmental organization accuses the tech company of failing to provide its customers with sufficient information about its claim that its new model of Apple Watch is carbon neutral.
According to Apple, emissions resulting from production of the watch are offset by compensation projects. DUH argues however that Apple has not adequately described what these projects involve. Also unclear is whether the projects are of sufficient duration to make up for the negative effects of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere – the greenhouse gas can potentially linger in the atmosphere for hundreds of years.
“Apple is giving its customers the false impression that buying and using an Apple Watch has zero negative effects on the climate,” said BUH director Jürgen Resch in an April 3rd statement.
Analysis Describes “Exaggerations”
The research institution New Climate Institute expressed similar criticisms after conducting an analysis of the Apple Watch series launched in September: to describe the products as climate neutral, the group concluded, was a “bold exaggeration” – even if the measures could be considered a good first step.
“Carbon credits from forestry projects and other carbon dioxide removals . . . are not in any way equivalent to the reduction of the remaining emissions,” wrote the institute. Detailed information on suppliers is also missing from Apple’s environmental reports. Many of the company’s main suppliers – like the multinational Foxconn corporation – get only a small portion of the energy they use from renewable sources. Nor can Apple ensure that its customers use the products exclusively with renewable energy.
The computer magazine c’t has also reported on “balance tricks” in the company’s environmental reports.
Bonus Income from Forestry
DUH characterizes a logo that Apple is using to advertise its products as a means of deceiving customers. It features green leaves and the words “Carbon Neutral” and functions “as a kind of official seal.” But the label is wholly a creation of the company, says DUH, and the underlying standards have not been sufficiently clarified.
DUH also criticizes Apple’s so-called Restore Fund, asserting that there is a great lack of transparency with regard to which projects receive support and how the funds are distributed. What’s more, the company does not provide information as to whether the projects it finances are successful.
Apple founded the fund in 2021 in partnership with the investment bank Goldman Sachs and the US environmental organization Conservation International. It boasts a budget of more than 100 million US dollars. DUH director of market supervision Agnes Sauter criticizes the company for generating income from forestry projects supported by the fund from which it is also obtaining carbon credits.
Apple itself writes in its 2023 environmental progress report that the goal of the fund is “to change carbon removal from a cost to a potentially profitable investment.” This leads DUH to conclude that “instead of fully investing in the reduction of CO2 emissions from its products, the global corporation worth many billions of dollars is actually making money off its hypocritical environmental measures.”
Carbon Neutral by 2030
Apple has officially committed itself to the goal of making all its products carbon neutral by 2030. Emissions are to be reduced through innovation in materials, clean energy, and low-carbon shipping. As for the remaining harmful greenhouse gases, the company intends to offset them with “nature-based projects.”
The environmental and climate promises facing criticism are a prominent component of Apple’s marketing. New product launches feature an increased emphasis on sustainability, with the company boasting, for example, that it no longer offers leather bands for its watches and no longer wraps products in plastic wrap. (hcz)