Apple is a tech company that manufactures the iPhones, iPads, to Macs and MacBooks, as well as the providers of iTunes and everything inside the Apple ecosystem.
The $2 trillion company is sitting on a huge pile of resources. With some of its competitors and others in the tech industry are looking forward to ramp up their carbon offset, Apple also has something similar in mind.
In a newsroom post, the company announced a "first-of-its-kind carbon removal initiative" it calls the "Restore Fund."
What it does, is making investments in forestry projects to remove carbon from the atmosphere while generating a financial return for investors.
To make this happen, Apple is working with the Conservation International and Goldman Sachs, anda $200 million fund.
The goal, is to remove at least one million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually from the atmosphere, or an equivalent of the amount of harmful gases emitted by fuel from over 200,000 passenger vehicles, with a viable financial model aimed at increasing investment in forest restoration.
As a huge company with a huge supply chain, Apple is certainly a carbon emitter itself.
In order for the company to successfully become carbon neutral across its entire "value chain" by 2030, Apple plans to directly eliminate 75% of emissions for its supply chain and products by 2030.
As for the fund, it is aimed at addressing the remaining 25% of Apple's emissions by removing carbon from the atmosphere.
One part of this initiative, is seeing Apple and its partners working together with local conservation organizations in Kenya to restore degraded savannas in the Chyulu Hills region, an area between three national parks that is just across the border from Kilimanjaro National Park in Tanzania.
"Scaling up this work across the degraded rangeland and natural savannas across Africa could remove hundreds of millions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere each year, while also benefiting local communities and wildlife," Apple said.
According to Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, who reports directly to CEO Tim Cook:
To ensure that the carbon stored in forests is being accurately quantified, and permanently locked out of the atmosphere, the Restore Fund shall use international standards like the ones developed by Verra, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the UN Climate Convention.
Apple also focuses on prioritizing its investments on working forests to improve their biodiversity through the creation of buffer zones and natural set-asides.
“Innovation is core to Apple’s approach to climate solutions, and Goldman Sachs is proud to partner with them and Conservation International,” said Dina Powell, Global Head of Sustainability and Inclusive Growth at Goldman Sachs.
“We all agree that the urgency of climate transition requires private capital to work alongside new and established efforts aimed at sustainably removing carbon from the atmosphere with rigor and high standards. We believe launching this fund can catalyze significant additional investment capital for climate impact.”
According to Apple, until 2021, the company has for three years ran a 100% responsibly sourced fibers in its packaging and improved the management of more than 1 million acres of forests.
And this Restore Fund initiative is built on top of Apple's previous attempts to conserve forestry, one which resulted in "sustainable" and small packaging of the iPhone 12 series.
In the announcement, Apple also said that its customers can take part in supporting the efforts.
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