by Dan Moren
Apple launches new environmental initiatives…in Europe and China
Apple Newsroom in the UK and China:
Apple is significantly expanding its clean energy projects across Europe with new large-scale solar and wind farms now in development in Greece, Italy, Latvia, Poland, and Romania. Together with a newly operational solar array in Spain, the projects announced today — all enabled by Apple — will add 650 megawatts of renewable energy capacity to electrical grids across Europe in the coming years, unlocking more than $600 million in financing. This will generate over 1 million megawatt-hours of clean electricity on behalf of Apple users by 2030.
These projects are both part of Apple’s continuing to push on its “Carbon neutral by 2030” platform, which includes providing clean energy to offset the amount of power needed to run and charge its devices.
However, it’s not hard to notice that these are two big investments that do not include the United States. It’s hard not to view that in light of the current administration’s outright denial of climate change and pooh-poohing of all things clean energy.1 But it’s also a reminder that Europe and China—which itself has invested hugely in clean energy—are becoming the world’s leaders in clean energy2, especially as the electricity demands of technology (including, of course, the ever-present AI) continue to skyrocket. Meanwhile, the U.S. risks becoming irrelevant in this essential industry (as in so much else).
It will be interesting to see if Apple is still able to meet that 2030 goal, given the prevailing situation in the U.S.
- Among which, the recent cancellation of a massive solar farm in Nevada that would have the generation capacity of three times the Hoover Dam. ↩
- China, on the other hand, has a solar farm that is seven times the size of the island of Manhattan. ↩