Sometimes it takes big organizations to do big things.
Apple exerts its power on it’s entire supply line to ensure that they are using renewable energy and environmentally sound principles. Additionally, they forward to after the sale and are committing to accounting for all of the power that their devices use once they are in the hands of their customers. Neither one of those things, looking back at their supply chain, and forward at their customers, is something that Apple has to do. But as one of those customers, I’m glad they are doing it.
Of course, not everyone sees things the same way. Cory Doctoro is a smart guy and a fun writer. I enjoy his podcast, and I’ve read a few of his books. There’s enough of a streak of rebellion in me that I find his worldview and calls for action particularly appealing. One area where I partially disagree with him though is his call to move away from Amercian tech. While I think it’s a no-brainer for foreign governments (or anyone else for that matter) to stop using Microsoft Office, I wouldn’t extend this idea to adopting European laptop vendors. At least not how they currently exist.
Apple, Google, and Microsoft have all committed to meeting certain environmental goals by 2030. In the case of Apple, their commitment is to be entirely carbon neutral. Microsoft’s commitment is to be “carbon negative, water positive, zero waste, and protect more land than we use.” Likewise, Google is pursuing “net-zero emissions across all of our operations and value chain by 2030, supported by a goal to run on 24/7 CFE on every grid where we operate.” I’m not a big fan of Microsoft or Google, but I have been following Apple as a hobby for over 20 years now. To be completely transparent, I find Apple’s commitment to and execution on their environmental goals to be astonishing.
Let’s get the caveats out of the way first. Yes, there are many, many things that Apple needs to do better at. Yes, they don’t need to be quite as big as they are. Yes, they need to treat developers better. And for the love of God yes, they need new leadership at the top, the Trump bootlicking and ring-kissing has to stop. But today I’d like to focus on what Apple is doing right, and what I hope they continue to do right.
A nerdy way to get an idea of how important a topic is to a big organization like Apple is to see how deeply they bury that topic in their information hierarchy of their homepage. For Apple, at the bottom of every page is heading titled “Values”, and under that is a link to “Environment”. I think it’s telling that the link points to https://www.apple.com/environment/, a top-level folder of their domain. A few bullet points from Apple:
- 21.8M metric tons of CO₂e emissions avoided
- 24% of materials shipped in our products came from recycled or renewable sources in 2024.
- 99% recycled cobalt in all Apple‑designed batteries.
- 3.6M metric tons of supplier facility waste diverted from landfills through our Zero Waste Program.
- 150,000 acres of sustainably certified forests restored
- 100,000 acres of native ecosystems protected through the Restore Fund.
- 14 billion gallons of freshwater savings through our Supplier Clean Water Program in 2024.
- Mac Mini manufactured with electricity sourced from 100% renewables.
- Mac enclosures made with 100% recycled aluminum.
One could argue that the metrics listed here are misleading, or that this is greenwashing and Apple is no more responsible than any other tech giant. There may be some truth to that, but I think overall Apple’s commitment to environmentally sound manufacturing and recycling principles is real. And, not only good for everyone in general, it’s good for their business. They could make their lower-end machines like the Mini or the Air out of cheap plastic. They could not be doing any of the things that they are doing, but it would cost them in raw materials, and it would cost them in reputation.
One argument I’ve seen from Doctoro is that Apple’s recycling program prevents good parts from entering the third-party market, which gives Apple more power because then only Apple can be the supplier of repair parts for their products. Fair enough, with a company the size and scope of Apple, there are a number of different lenses to look at any given topic through. I’m fully on board with making machines that are easy to repair. But I’m also fully on board with making sure e-waste stays out of landfills and dangerous third-world smelting factories.
Looking at Apple’s products purely through a repairability lense often leads to considering Framework. Framework is intentionally built with repairability in mind, every component in the machine can be easily ripped out and replaced with a new one, from the screen to the motherboard. My concern with Framework’s model is what happens to the components that are replaced? And how often are they being replaced? If we are honest about the consumption habits of most Americans, and probably most Europeans as well, those replaced parts will wind up in the trash. So… if the Framework model becomes widespread and commonplace, e-waste from replaceable Framework components grows exponentially.
Ok, so if we don’t want a world full of junk Framework components, and we want to get off American tech in general anyway, where do we go? There are a few small European laptop vendors making Linux laptops, like Germany’s Tuxedo, and Spain’s Slimbook. These vendors offer a seamless experience of Linux pre-installed on their machines, with all the components guaranteed to work, and even an extended warranty available to purchase. So far so good, but there is no environmental impact statement for these companies, because they don’t actually make the laptop. In general, these companies are white-labeling laptops from a Chinese manufacturer named Clevo, an ODM (Original Design Manufacturer).
Clevo, somewhat surprisingly, has an environmental report similar to Apple or Microsoft’s, but reading the report shows that the company is doing the minimum it can get away with, along with some very modest goals. A brief rundown:
- Apple achieved 60% carbon reduction since 2015, Clevo’s goal is 5% by 2030.
- Apple currently uses 100% renewable energy for it’s own operating, and is pushing suppliers to 100% by 2040, Clevo uses 12.85% with no supplier requirements.
- Apple has invested billions in renewable energy and recycling, Clevo does not disclose it’s investments.
Apple might be accused of greenwashing, but this report from Clevo actually is greenwashing. Among other things, it emphasizes replacing LED bulbs for Christ’s sake, but avoids making hard commitments to real environmental protection.
This is all to say that while it may feel good to support a small, European Linux vendor, the environmental impact of that choice is far from neutral. I’d be all for manufacturers in Europe to start building their own computers from scratch that were easily repairable, easily recyclable, and used environmentally friendly processes, but as far as I can tell that doesn’t exist. Not yet anyway. Maybe this current moment we are in can jumpstart the effort.
Apple is too big. Tim Cook needs to go. They have focused too much on profit and not enough on developer relations, code quality, and user experience design. I mean, good grief, have you looked at Apple News+ lately? Embarrassing. But give credit where due, Apple’s environmental efforts are second to none, and that’s partially because they decided to use their strength to push the industry in a more sustainable, cleaner, and greener direction. I think the world would be a better place if everyone else would follow suit.