Greenpeace praises Apple as a ‘Green Internet Innovator’

Environmental activist group Greenpeace, which has been critical of Apple in the past, is now praising the Cupertino company for being a “Green Internet Innovator”. Apple was singled out along with Facebook and Google for its environmentally friendly data centers. In its recent “Clicking Clean: How Companies are Building the Green Internet” report, Greenpeace commends Apple for the company’s commitment to using renewable energy in its North Carolina and Oregon data centers. The group awarded Apple three “A” grades and one “B” grade in the four categories surveyed by the group. Apple’s aggressive pursuit of its commitment to power the iCloud with 100% renewable energy has given the company the inside track among the IT sector’s leaders in building a green Internet. Apple has made good on its pledge by building the largest privately owned solar farms at its North Carolina data center, working with its utility in Nevada to power its upcoming data center there with solar and geothermal energy, and purchasing wind energy for its Oregon and California data centers. Apple’s commitment to renewable energy has helped set a new bar for the industry, illustrating in very concrete terms that a 100% renewable internet is within its reach, and providing several models of intervention for other companies that want to build a sustainable Internet. Greenpeace praises Apple for its proactive use of renewable energy in its data centers, its advocacy for renewable energy and its transparency in this area. Greenpeace criticizes Apple only for its energy efficiency and mitigation, an area that Apple could improve by sharing details on its energy-efficient designs so other companies can follow suit. This most recent clean energy report is a marked difference from an earlier report in which Greenpeace criticized Apple for using “dirty energy” to power its data centers. Greenpeace gave Apple three “D” ratings and one “F” rating in the 2012 report, claiming the company only obtained 15 percent of its total energy requirements from clean energy sources. Apple disputed this claim in follow-up statements. Continue reading →

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