Apple
While the fund’s inaugural phase is ongoing, dealers will support more nature-based carbon reduction initiatives in addition to Apple.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Murata Manufacturing, two important manufacturing partners, were welcomed by Apple today as new Restore Fund investors. The fund’s goal is to increase worldwide investment in premium, naturally occurring carbon removal while safeguarding vital ecosystems. Global semiconductor foundry TSMC has agreed to contribute up to $50 million to a fund run by Pollination and HSBC Asset Management jointly, called Climate Asset Management. Japan-based Murata, an iPhone supplier, plans to contribute up to $30 million to the same fund. With the addition of these further contributions, Apple’s earlier pledge of up to $200 million for the second phase of the Restore Fund is now up to $280 million in committed funds.
Apple also revealed the participants in the Restore Fund’s first phase, which is scheduled to begin in 2021. Through these investments, Symbiosis, BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group, Arbaro Advisors, and Apple, Goldman Sachs, and Conservation International are collaborating with seasoned forestry managers to support the establishment of sustainably certified working forests on degraded pasture and agricultural lands in South America. By 2025, Apple hopes that the portfolio will have removed one million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
According to Lisa Jackson, vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives at Apple, “Businesses that invest in nature are also investing in healthier communities, a more resilient global economy, and a critical tool in the fight against climate change.” “While reducing carbon from the atmosphere, the Restore Fund is already having a significant positive impact on South American people and ecosystems. And we’re pleased to see suppliers supporting the environment in addition to their pressing efforts to decarbonize their operations.
High-Quality Investments in Nature
The Restore Fund thoroughly evaluated potential managers and investments to make sure they fulfill strong requirements for quality, scalability, and impact, as well as rigorous environmental, social, and governance criteria, before choosing the portfolio of projects for its initial phase. Through this rigorous due diligence process—which is further described in a recent white paper on Apple’s carbon reduction strategy—the majority of possible investments are weeded out.
Every project chosen for the Restore Fund is subjected to recurring evaluations in order to track the evolution and expansion of the forest over time, mitigate the danger of fire and other hazards, and confirm the carbon stock of the forest. In order to assess the condition of the land and the status of the project, Apple and its partners, which include Space Intelligence and Upstream Tech, have employed cutting-edge technologies like LiDAR on the iPhone, satellite data, bioacoustic monitoring, and machine learning.
The first phase of the Restore Fund’s initiatives is focused on developing new, sustainably managed working forests to assist supply the world’s growing need for lumber while also lessening the strain on natural forests. Project management will be done by:
• Arbaro Advisors, which is developing a portfolio of forestry projects throughout Latin America, including Apple’s first Restore Fund project in Paraguay, with the goal of creating sustainably managed eucalyptus farms that enhance local communities’ access to livelihood opportunities and safeguard the area’s natural ecosystems.
• BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group, which is planting commercial species, such as eucalyptus, on half of the project area and attempting to preserve and restore natural ecosystems on the other half.
• Symbiosis, which preserves natural forests in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest by raising native seedlings to establish working forests of native tropical hardwoods.
These supervisors will guarantee that every project satisfies the exacting requirements of the Restore Fund.
Progress to Carbon Neutrality
TSMC and Murata are two of the more than 300 suppliers who have signed up for Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy Program, which aims to provide all of the company’s production with 100% renewable power by 2030. By the conclusion of this decade, Apple expects its suppliers to decarbonize all aspect of their activities connected to the company by 2022. This involves using top-notch carbon removal to solve inevitable residual emissions.
under order to provide both carbon and financial advantages, regenerative agriculture initiatives will be combined with ecosystem conservation and restoration projects under the fund that TSMC and Murata are participating in with Apple. The selection process for projects is presently under progress.
Apple 2030, the company’s audacious plan to become carbon neutral throughout its whole value chain by the end of this decade, includes the Restore Fund as a key element. Apple has set a goal to reduce its carbon footprint by 75% from 2015 levels by reducing direct emissions. The company will also deploy high-quality carbon removal to handle any remaining emissions. The corporation only employs credits to address residual emissions that are challenging to eliminate or abate with current accessible technologies, and it only retires credits from carbon projects where verifiable removal has already occurred.