Part of the solution to climate change lies in companies being transparent when it comes to reporting their greenhouse gas emissions and Apple is a great example of how to do this right.
Apple has released its 2008 environmental report and here’s a handy list I’ve pulled together from their report on the total greenhouse emissions for each model of Mac computer, the iPhone and the iPod: (I’ve listed them from best to worst)
iPod Nano: total greenhouse gas emissions for the entire lifecyle of a single iPod Nano is 15 kg CO22e (CO2 equivalent). To give you an idea of how much greenhouse gas that actually is, burning a gallon of gasoline in your car produces about 11 kg C022e.
Here’s the entire environmental report on the iPod Nano (pdf).
Here’s the entire environmental report on the iPod Touch (pdf).
Here’s the entire environmental report on the iPhone 3G (pdf).
Here’s the entire environmental report on the MacBook Air (pdf).
Here’s the entire environmental report on the MacBook (pdf).
Here’s the entire environmental report on the MacBook Pro (pdf).
Here’s the entire environmental report on the 20-inch iMac (pdf).
Here’s the entire environmental report on the 24-inch iMac (pdf).
This is all very fine and good and as I mentioned at the outset, it is important that companies are open and transparent about their carbon emissions, but as Rob Knox points out, as have many others, Apple still has a long way to go before they could be considered friendly to the environment.
