As Apple continues to expand the reach of social initiatives in India, an Energy for Livelihoods accelerator has been designed for social entrepreneurs. This 12-week program, which begins in September, will focus on what they define as social enterprises, or businesses that have a social or environmental mission. For this, Apple is working with Acumen, a global non-profit organization. The latest initiative is part of Apple’s growing involvement with communities, including the environment and development.
Apple and Acumen hope the Energy for Livelihoods Accelerator will create an ecosystem of social enterprises in the country, with potential for development, while working to advance sustainable energy solutions for small businesses and farmers.
“Apple is committed to ensuring that everyone can share in the benefits of a greener economy. We demonstrate the transformative potential of clean energy in everything we do and are excited to support social innovators who share this goal,” said Sarah Chandler, Vice President of Environment and Supply Chain from Apple.
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The tech giant’s country-specific initiatives on the environment, education and local issues add to the tech giant’s global pursuit to reduce a broader environmental footprint. A net zero commitment that means more than just using recycled materials in product manufacturing.
“We believe that climate change is the biggest problem of the century. We want to be fully invested in solving a part that we can solve, and leading our business on renewable energy is part of that,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told HT earlier this year.
Acumen hopes the program will “accelerate a cohort of early-stage social enterprises using clean energy and energy-efficient solutions to meet the needs of low-income communities.” The nonprofit says accelerator participants will join a global community of small businesses, called The Foundry, and be eligible for seed investment through the Pioneer Energy Investment Initiative.
“For more than 20 years, Acumen has been investing in early-stage social enterprises to address poverty issues in India, and some of our most innovative recent investments are at the intersection of energy access and livelihoods,” said Mahesh Yagnaraman, Acumen’s India director. . He hopes the partnership with Apple will help build an ecosystem of scalable social enterprises in the country specifically focused on sustainable energy use.
Acumen says investments in India now stand at around $41.2 million, with 82.9 million claimed lives impacted by various initiatives. Some examples include working with Drishtee to provide village health services, educating young people in rural parts of the country with Edubridge, and working with BioLite to raise awareness of low-cost biomass stoves.
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Earlier this summer, Apple announced the Clean Water Initiative, in partnership with the non-governmental organization Frank Water. The focus is on improving the quality and supply of water, as well as the availability of sanitation and hygiene facilities. The pilot project is at Anekal taluk, on the outskirts of Bangalore.
Apple has also begun working with the Applied Environmental Research Foundation to promote the protection and conservation of mangroves in Maharashtra. Mangroves can store up to 10 times more carbon per acre than terrestrial forests.
The company has also worked with Barefoot College to organize training programs for women in rural India, with particular emphasis on the benefits of using solar power in communities.
Globally, Apple’s initiatives include promoting clean energy in South Africa, preserving forests in Georgia, and an impact accelerator for climate change in Michigan in the United States.
Along with country-specific initiatives, the tech giant has set a global goal of being carbon neutral across all of its businesses, all the products they make, supply chain and device lifecycle. products, by 2030. Its own operations have become carbon neutral, including Apple Stores around the world. , in 2020.
Product manufacturing is also on track to meet Apple’s 2030 goals.
Last year, Apple announced that it would use the world’s first direct carbon-free aluminum in its iPhones, starting with the iPhone SE. Carbon-free direct aluminum is the result of improvements in smelting technology to reduce emissions. This aluminum is the first to be manufactured on an industrial scale outside of a laboratory and creates no direct carbon emissions during the melting process.
Hydroelectricity is used in the manufacturing process of this aluminium. As a result, the manufacturing process of this aluminum produces oxygen, instead of the direct greenhouse gas emissions that emerge from traditional methods.
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Tim Cook has clarified that all environmentally focused goals are “non-negotiable”, pointing out that the 2030 goal for Apple’s entire operations to be completely carbon neutral is a tough deadline.
For example, the new Apple Stores in India, Apple BKC in Mumbai and Apple Saket in Delhi, use fully renewable energy from dedicated solar panels, making them carbon neutral operations.
Earlier, the company announced a switch to 100% recycled cobalt for batteries by 2025 and set a similar goal of using 100% recycled rare earth elements for magnets in its devices. All Apple-designed circuit boards will also use fully recycled tin solder and gold plating, the company predicted.
The Apple iPhone 14 series, for example, has 100% recycled gold in the wire of all cameras, recycled tin is used in the main motherboard solder while the antenna lines are made from of recycled plastic bottles that might otherwise have ended up in a landfill.
The company says 67% of all aluminum shipped as part of the MacBook, iMac, iPad and Apple Watch product lines came from recycled sources. The new MacBook Air 15 launching this summer, for example, is made from 100% recycled aluminum, 100% recycled cobalt for the MagSafe connector, 90% recycled steel in the battery tray, and more than 35 % recycled plastic.
