Apple: "We believe climate change is a real problem"

The company has launched a major new environmental campaign

Published April 22, 2014 1:55PM (EDT)

  (Reuters/Robert Galbraith)
(Reuters/Robert Galbraith)

Apple is really pushing this caring-about-climate-change thing. Nicely timed to land on the eve of Earth Day, the company has overhauled a section of its website that highlights its green initiatives and its aggressive push for renewable energy.

It has also reasserted its position on climate deniers: "We believe climate change is real," the new website reads. "And that it's a real problem."

It also features a sleek two-minute video, narrated by Tim Cook, in which the CEO meditates on the meaning of the word "better."  Basically, it's a slightly more scripted version of what Cook told a group of investors last month who questioned the company's spending on environmental initiatives: “We want to leave the world better than we found it.”

The website acknowledges that the company's carbon footprint is still pretty massive -- its supply chain and facilities were responsible for 33,800,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2013 -- while stressing its commitment to reporting that data "even when our numbers aren’t as good as we’d like them to be." According to Apple, 120 of its U.S. retail stores, 94 percent of its corporate facilities and 100 percent of its data centers are now powered by renewable energy -- a feat that last month earned it commendations from Greenpeace. P.R.-speak aside, it is by all appearances genuine about its commitment to sustainability.

And of course, the company couldn't help taking a dig at Samsung, which it's currently suing for copying features of its product design. As the Verge reports, two ads taken out in British newspapers today feature solar panels and the slogan "There are some ideas we want every company to copy."


By Lindsay Abrams

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Apple Climate Change Data Centers Environmentalism Renewable Energy Samsung Tim Cook Video