Apple said it allocated more than half of its total “green bond” spend to fund 17 renewable energy projects around the world. The projects will generate 1.2 gigawatts of renewable energy globally, with Apple adding over 350 megawatts of newly installed renewable energy over the last year in Nevada, Illinois, Virginia, and Denmark. The company has issued three sets of green bonds since 2016 amounting to USD 4.7 billion.
The 17 green bond projects funded in 2020 will avoid an average of 921,000 metric tons of carbon emissions annually, which is equivalent to removing nearly 200,000 cars from the road, said Apple. They include 180-acre solar power site within its Reno Technology Park that will generate 270 megawatts of power, a 112-megawatt power purchase agreement with a wind farm near Chicago and a 165-megawatt solar photovoltaic project with Etsy, Akamai, and SwissRE near Fredericksburg, Virginia.
In Denmark, Apple’s green bonds funded a set of two onshore wind turbines in Denmark that are described as the largest in the country. Located near the Danish town of Esbjerg, the 200-meter-tall turbines are expected to produce 62 gigawatt hours each year – enough for almost 20,000 homes – and will power Apple’s data centre in Viborg as well as acting as a test site for offshore wind turbines.
