If Apple cared about the environment, the iPhone 14 wouldn’t really exist

Can we stop pretending that a few green-tinted presentation slides and some recycled gold will make the new iPhone sustainable in any way?

As the dust settles on yet another Apple launch event, I can’t help but wonder when tech companies will wake up and realize that plastic-free packaging and some recycled materials aren’t making them or their products good for the planet. Surely every little helps, and small actions by big companies like Apple make a big difference. But let’s get serious here for a second. If Apple really cared about sustainability and the environment, they wouldn’t be flying a bunch of people to a virtual launch event, and the new iPhone 14 wouldn’t exist.

Why? There no launch event + no new iPhone = no environmental impact. As simple as that.

Apple estimates that every single iPhone 14 will cause 61 kg of CO2 emissions over its lifetime. 79% of these emissions occur during the production process. It doesn’t matter how environmentally friendly the shipping is or whether you charge your phone with sun and wind; 79% of the iPhone 14’s CO2 emissions occur before you even pick it up. You can see these numbers for yourself on the beautifully vibrant and green “Environment” page of Apple’s website.

For most people, 61 kg of CO2 may not seem like a lot. But as Apple itself says, they produce millions of units, and so the numbers add up quickly. In fact, Apple’s gross emissions (without carbon offsetting) for 2021 totaled 23.2 million tons of carbon dioxide (note the shift from kg to tons). About 70% of these emissions came directly from the manufacturers of what were then considered Apple’s latest and greatest products.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying we shouldn’t have new technology or that Apple should never release a better iPhone. What I’m saying is, if Apple really wanted to reduce its carbon footprint, it would have held back from releasing a slew of new devices, most of which offer only a slight improvement over the previous generation. The iPhone 14, in particular, is one of the smallest year-over-year upgrades since its launch, if not the smallest yet. And even then, folks with flawless iPhone 11s, 12s, and 13s will still consider the iPhone 14 something worthy of an upgrade simply because of the incremental number on the label. Not launching an iPhone 14 would have sent a stronger message: your iPhone 13 is perfectly fine for at least another year, and there’s nothing they can add to a still-great product.

Better still, if Apple really wanted to reduce its carbon footprint, how about releasing devices that can be upgraded without having to be replaced or recycled every time? It wouldn’t be amiss not to fly people around the world either, as post-event hands-on events could take place locally while the main keynote, with its beautiful production, remains virtual.

“But what about all the good things Apple is doing for the environment, like investing in carbon removal and using renewable energy to power its offices?”

As far as environmental initiatives go, Apple is definitely one of the tech companies, at least that appears to try to offset some of its environmental impacts. As a company, they claim to be carbon neutral since 2020 and hope that all of their products will be carbon neutral by 2030. If you want me to applaud and clap Apple for what a company of its size and influence is doing should do at least something for the environment, then unfortunately I have to disappoint you.

I’m sure there are already people waiting in the comments to tell me how stupid I am and that I’d better not use a smartphone or have any impact on the environment myself, I’m just a hypocrite.

And maybe that’s me because I like technology, I like new things and I like buying stuff. But at least I acknowledge and admit that I have the greatest impact on the environment through my consumption; not the fact that I choose to buy a phone whose camera is made from 100% recycled gold wire, or a laptop that ships in responsible packaging. These things are nice to have, but they don’t solve the bigger problem.

Until manufacturing the new iPhone becomes a carbon neutral process, the most sustainable phone is still the one in your pocket, and Apple is fully aware of that.