As he steps down from his station arsenic Apple CEO today, Tim Cook leaves down a mostly affirmative biology record. As acold arsenic billionaire tech moguls and the situation go, Cook will apt beryllium remembered arsenic 1 of the amended ones — surely acold from the worst. But it will go harder for the institution to meet the ambiance goals Cook group successful spot arsenic Apple tries to drawback up successful the AI race.
Under his watch, Apple group industry-leading goals for reducing the magnitude of contamination created by its products and suppliers. It has managed to support its c footprint from increasing while different tech giants spot their emissions emergence pinch the energy-needs of AI.
Even so, Apple has faced a bid of accusations that it misled customers pinch its sustainability claims. And galore of the biology problems the institution has grappled pinch nether Cook are poised to go moreover bigger pinch the detonation of generative AI.
“If Tim Cook wants his bequest to beryllium of a institution that held its ambiance commitments he whitethorn person chosen the correct clip to leave.”
“If Tim Cook wants his bequest to beryllium of a institution that held its ambiance commitments he whitethorn person chosen the correct clip to time off - correct now against a acheronian backdrop the image is comparatively rosy,” Rachel Kitchin, elder run head astatine the biology group Stand.earth, says successful an email to The Verge. “Depending connected the choices the institution makes moving guardant it whitethorn not enactment that way.”
The institution pumped retired 15.3 cardinal metric tons of gross c dioxide emissions successful 2025, according to the company’s latest biology report. That’s about arsenic overmuch arsenic the pollution from 40 gas-fired powerfulness plants complete a year. In 2020, Apple group a extremity of cutting its c emissions by 75 percent by the extremity of the decade (compared to its emissions successful 2015). So far, it has reduced its emissions by 60 percent, which Apple touted successful its announcement of Cook’s modulation to executive chairman. Apple’s c contamination shrank each twelvemonth since 2021 earlier flatlining complete the past year, “holding changeless from 2024 moreover successful a twelvemonth of important business growth,” the institution said successful a press release.
Cook was clear during his tenure that the company’s move toward cleaner power wouldn’t travel astatine the costs of that growth. “I want to spot that it pencils out, because I want different group to transcript it. And I cognize they’re not going to transcript a determination that’s not a bully economical decision,” Cook told CBS News of its renewable power investments successful 2023. Meanwhile, Google’s and Microsoft’s greenhouse state emissions person ballooned successful caller years arsenic generative AI demands much data centers and chip manufacturing.
Apple group itself isolated pinch precocious standards it created for its suppliers, garnering support from biology groups that typically person a batch of antagonistic things to constituent retired astir Big Tech companies. A 2023 report by Stand.earth assessed Apple, Dell, Google, HP, Microsoft, and Nvidia and recovered that Apple was the only 1 astatine the clip that had group a 100 percent renewable energy target for its suppliers.
In 2025, Apple earned a B+ rating from Greenpeace East Asia for its push for much renewable power on its proviso chains. “It’s a crisp opposition to companies specified arsenic Nvidia, whose proviso concatenation is besides concentrated successful East Asia but has nary clear renewable power target aliases actual support for them,” Avex Li, proviso concatenation task lead astatine Greenpeace East Asia, says successful an email.
It’s worthy mentioning, though, that location person been allegations of forced labor and conflict minerals on Apple’s proviso chain. Apple has besides faced crisp disapproval complete trading immoderate of its products arsenic “carbon neutral,” claiming the institution didn’t nutrient much c dioxide emissions than it could seizure aliases offset while making the device. Apple introduced “select lawsuit and set combinations” of its Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra 2, and Apple Watch SE arsenic the company’s first c neutral devices successful 2023. Later that year, the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs found that Apple had stopped requiring its suppliers to publically disclose their greenhouse state emissions, alleging that the deficiency of transparency made it difficult to verify the company’s c neutral claims.
“Apple needs much transparency and should put much straight successful caller renewable capacity, peculiarly successful Taiwan and South Korea, wherever overmuch of its spot proviso concatenation is concentrated and entree to renewable power remains constrained,” Li writes, adding that the institution doesn’t disclose suppliers’ full energy depletion nor the wide stock powered by renewable energy.
The institution faced a class action lawsuit past twelvemonth filed connected behalf of customers who bought the watches, accusing the institution of “false and misleading c neutrality claims.” A national judge successful California dismissed the lawsuit this year. And Apple dropped its c neutral advertizing aft the EU moved to barroom the usage of the term to picture products.
Cook has been a savvy statesman erstwhile it comes to shielding Apple’s proviso chains. Despite its ain reductions successful pollution, Apple — alongside Amazon, GM and dozens of different ample companies — has opposed efforts to create stricter world guidelines for reporting greenhouse state emissions. In the US, Cook joined different main executives astatine President Donald Trump’s inauguration successful 2025, ushering successful a activity of policies designed to derail ambiance action and termination renewable power projects successful favour of fossil fuels. Cook donated $1 cardinal to the inauguration committee, and gave Trump a gold and solid statue later that twelvemonth apparently to commemorate US manufacturing. In his 2nd term, Trump has prioritized rolling backmost biology rules to velocity the improvement of new powerfulness plants and AI data centers.
When reached for comment, Apple spokesperson Sean Redding pointed The Verge to its astir caller biology advancement report and its anterior statements connected Cook’s transition.
With increasing request for much precocious chips and unreality infrastructure, “AI will beryllium the defining trial of Apple’s ambiance commitments,” Li says. “To sphere Tim Cook’s biology legacy, the institution will request to show that AI maturation tin beryllium accommodated wrong its existing ambiance commitments done absolute emissions reductions, further renewable power investment, and longer-lasting products.”
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