• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechFortune 500

How Apple Is Pushing Its Suppliers to Use Clean Energy

By
Katie Fehrenbacher
Katie Fehrenbacher
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Katie Fehrenbacher
Katie Fehrenbacher
Down Arrow Button Icon
September 19, 2016, 4:53 PM ET
Apple solar site California
The power grid that leads into the site of the California solar farm that will provide Apple with electricity.Photograph by Katie Fehrenbacher

Now that tech giant Apple is powering almost all of its operations using solar and wind, the company is looking to all those suppliers around the world that are producing widgets, chips, screens, and the like for iPhones and Apple gadgets to follow suit.

During a talk for Climate Week in New York City, Apple’s vice president of environment, Lisa Jackson, announced that two more of the company’s suppliers plan to adopt clean energy. Solvay Specialty Polymers, a Belgian company that makes antenna bands for iPhones, and Catcher Technology, a Chinese company that makes aluminum parts for iPhones, both plan to power 100% of their production for Apple with clean energy by 2018.

The news follows commitment from two other Apple vendors, Foxconn and Lens Technology, which have made similar environmental plans in recent years. Foxconn has pledged to build 400 megawatts-worth of solar panel farms in order to offset the amount of energy that its Zhengzhou, China-based factory consumes for the final production of the iPhone.

Convincing suppliers to use clean energy seems could be a harder task than Apple’s own aggressive moves into clean energy. The company now powers 93% of its operations using solar and wind, including tapping a huge solar farm in Monterey County, Calif., which is under construction, as well as large solar farms in Nevada, North Carolina, and Arizona. Apple can also buy and sell energy on the wholesale market, enabling it to transfer or sell excess energy it generates.

In a conversation with Fortune following her talk in New York, Jackson said Apple works with its suppliers to embrace clean energy by providing “know-how,” including information on regulations and best practices to procure clean energy. The world’s biggest tech company has been developing various way to buy and build clean energy for years.

“We can be like their own specialty consultant,” explained Jackson. Apple is also making it clear that it will support suppliers who use clean energy, “including financially,” though that’s not the main issue, said Jackson.

“We are in the helping mode right now. But we put a real value on suppliers who are making this transition,” Jackson said.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

It’s becoming easier for large companies to buy solar and wind at competitive prices in various regions around the world. Companies can get ultra-low prices like four cents per kilowatt hour for some large solar farms. A rare world record bid for a solar farm just occurred near Abu Dhabi for 2.42 cents per kilowatt hour.

For more on Apple’s new iPhone, watch:

At those types of low prices, buying solar energy can lower costs when compared to buying energy from gas or coal plants.

About the Author
By Katie Fehrenbacher
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Latest in Tech

AIRecruiting
To ease recruiters’ fears of being replaced by AI, Zillow experimented with ‘prompt-a-thons.’ Now the real estate giant has 6 new recruitment tools
By Paige McGlauflin and HR BrewJanuary 6, 2026
6 hours ago
zhan, deepak
AIRobotics
Robots are really advancing because they’re learning to think for themselves—and they’re close to figuring out door handles, execs say
By Nick LichtenbergJanuary 6, 2026
7 hours ago
LawAmazon
Amazon is cutting checks to millions of customers as part of a $2.5 billion FTC settlement. Here’s who qualifies and how to get paid
By Sydney LakeJanuary 6, 2026
9 hours ago
InvestingU.S. economy
Ray Dalio says AI is in ‘the early stages of a bubble,’ so watch out for 2026
By Tristan BoveJanuary 6, 2026
9 hours ago
musk
AISocial Media
Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot draws global backlash for generating sexualized images of women and children without consent
By Kelvin Chan and The Associated PressJanuary 6, 2026
10 hours ago
Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi speaking on stage at a Fortune tech conference.
AIEye on AI
Want AI agents to work better? Improve the way they retrieve information, Databricks says
By Jeremy KahnJanuary 6, 2026
10 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Janet Yellen warns the $38 trillion national debt is testing a red line economists have feared for decades
By Eva RoytburgJanuary 5, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
AI
Experienced software developers assumed AI would save them a chunk of time. But in one experiment, their tasks took 20% longer
By Sasha RogelbergJanuary 5, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Blackstone exec says elite Ivy League degrees aren’t good enough—new analysts need to 'work harder' and be nice 
By Ashley LutzJanuary 5, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, January 5, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJanuary 5, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Current price of gold as of January 5, 2025
By Danny BakstJanuary 5, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Future of Work
Bank of America CEO says he hired 2,000 recent Gen Z grads from 200,000 applications, and many are scared about the future
By Ashley LutzJanuary 3, 2026
4 days ago