Electricity represents over three-quarters of the Apple Watch carbon footprint — and the biggest part of that is manufacturing. Starting in 2023, the electricity used to make carbon-neutral models of Apple Watch and watch bands will be sourced from 100 per cent clean electricity. This builds on our work, which began in 2015, to source renewable energy and build new infrastructure, like solar and wind farms, while helping our suppliers do the same. To reduce emissions even further, we’re matching 100 per cent of your expected electricity consumption to charge your carbon-neutral Apple Watch by investing in renewable energy projects like the IP Radian Solar project in Brown County, Texas, USA. Footnote 1
Since Series 5, Apple Watch has been made with 100 per cent recycled aluminium in the case. Series 9 also uses 100 per cent recycled materials in many of its components: gold in the plating and tin in the solder of multiple printed circuit boards, rare earth elements in the magnets, tungsten in the Taptic Engine Footnote 2 and copper foil in the main logic board. And in 2023, we added recycled cobalt Footnote 3 in the battery of Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 as part of our goal to use 100 per cent recycled cobalt in all Apple-designed batteries by 2025. We’ve also redesigned one of our most popular bands, the Sport Loop, with 82 per cent recycled yarn, some of which includes material from discarded fishing nets. With these combined innovations, aluminium Series 9 paired with any new Sport Loop watch band now contains over 30 per cent recycled content. Footnote 4
Shipping an Apple product by ocean emits 95 per cent less carbon dioxide, on average, than shipping the same device by air. By shipping 50 per cent or more of the total weight of all carbon-neutral Apple Watch models and bands using non-air modes — like ocean freight — from the factory to their next destination, we’re cutting total transportation emissions nearly in half. We also redesigned the Apple Watch packaging to be more compact — the smaller shape lets us ship up to 25 per cent more Series 9 models per trip. And for the first time, this packaging is 100 per cent fibre-based.⁶ It’s the first milestone towards our commitment to remove plastic from all packaging by 2025.