Apple provides details of its renewable energy investments

Tech giant funding green development via $4.7 billion green bond with aim to become carbon-neutral by 2030

Apple is funding a number of renewable energy projects as part of its goal to become carbon-neutral by 2030.

Major new investments include a solar in project in Reno, Nevada and wind in Chicago, Illinois as part of a $4.7 billion green bond spending spree that Apple claims will generate a total of 1.2GW of clean power.

According to a new update from the company, Apple funded 17 projects with proceeds from its Green Bond issuances, claiming the new infrastructure will avoid an average of 921,000 metric tons of carbon emissions annually, equivalent to removing nearly 200,000 cars from the road.

Since then, the projects have added over 350 megawatts of newly installed renewable energy, encompassing projects in Nevada, Illinois, Virginia and Denmark, the firm said.

In Nevada, a 180-acre, 50MW solar site located within the Reno Technology Park is now providing power to the Apple Nevada data centre. In Illinois, a 112-MW virtual power purchase agreement with a wind farm covers Apple's electricity use in the Chicago region. In Virginia, Apple worked with Etsy, Akamai and SwissRE to develop 165MW of solar power outside Fredericksburg. And in Esbjerg, Denmark, Apple has completed construction of a pair of 200-metre tall wind turbines that are expected to produce 62 gigawatt hours of power each year, enough to power 200,000 homes, the company said.

"Apple is dedicated to protecting the planet we all share with solutions that are supporting the communities where we work," said Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives. "We all have a responsibility to do everything we can to fight against the impacts of climate change, and our $4.7bn investment of the proceeds from our Green Bond sales is an important driver in our efforts."

The new projects are detailed in the tech firm's annual Green Bond Impact Report, the latest version of which was published this morning.

It states that Apple has to date allocated more than half of its total Green Bond spend with its investments aiming to power progress towards Apple's overarching climate goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2030 across its business, manufacturing supply chain, and product life cycle.

All the big tech companies are now trumpeting investment in renewable energy. Last month Amazon signed a deal to buy half the renewable power generated by a new offshore wind farm being built off the coast of the Netherlands.

A version of this article was first published on Business Green.