Apple is pushing to become carbon neutral through its entire supply chain and the life cycle of every product by 2030. On Tuesday, it also doubled its financial commitment to a fund it had established two years ago to invest in projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere. In the past, several tech companies have been accused of being complicit in the death of children in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) forced to mine cobalt, a critical material in the batteries used in most consumer electronics.
Most cobalt is produced as a by-product of copper or nickel mining, but artisanal miners in southern Congo exploit deposits near the surface that are rich in cobalt. A quarter of all cobalt used in Apple products came from recycled material in 2022, up from 13% a year earlier, Apple said.
It now sources over two-thirds of all aluminum, nearly
three-quarters of all rare earths, and more than 95% of all
tungsten in its products from recycled material.
(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini
Ganguli)
