Apple houses 19 corporate offices and 24 retail stores in China, having helped created upwards of 4.4 million jobs in the country.
With such a heavy presence there, the tech giant has launched a clean energy program aimed to lower manufacturers' carbon footprint in China. According to Apple, the program will help to avoid 20 million metric tons of greenhouse pollution in China between now and 2020. Apple says that the equivalent of removing four million vehicles from the road for one year. Overall, Apple plans to install more than two gigawatts of new clean energy in China over the coming years.
As part of the initiative, Apple also announced that the construction of 40 megawatts of solar projects in the Sichuan Province of China is complete, allowing for Apple's offices and retail stores in the country to be fully powered and thus making Apple carbon neutral in China. Taking its solar efforts further, Apple will have Foxconn construct 400 megawatts of solar projects, aiming to begin within the Henan Province by 2018.
"Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time and the time for action is now," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a press release statement from the company. "The transition to a new green company economy requires innovation, ambition and purpose. We believe passionately in leaving the world better than we found it and hope that many other suppliers, partners and other companies join us in this important effort."
Apple has dedicated a portion of its website to further lay out its environmental plans.
