Apple Joins America’s Largest Companies in the Fight Against Climate Change

Do you consider yourself eco-friendly? You might have made changes to your lifestyle to reduce your impact on the environment, but what we have done so far hasn’t made that big of an impact as a whole. Given the influx in our resource consumption, we are doing more damage to the environment now than ever before. From extensive droughts to blinding smog, the effects of our energy consumption are actively affecting our lives.

Time and time again, individuals as well as companies have stressed the importance of cutting back on the amount of pollution and waste we create. Instead, we should be striving to create a more sustainable lifestyle so that we don’t accelerate the decline of our planet. And while a number of businesses have embraced greener lifestyles, it isn’t enough to really get the ball rolling. But now, the White House has decided to take the reigns and help push the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

This past week, the White House released a pledge known as the American Business Act on Climate Pledge, which was signed by thirteen of the largest companies in the American economy. In fact, the sheer size of the companies is something to marvel at in and of itself: these companies generated a combined $1.3 trillion in revenue in 2014 and have a total combined market cap of $2.5 trillion. Apple was on the list alongside big-name businesses like Bank of America, General Motors, Coca-Cola, and others, all pledging to help reduce the impact of climate change.

By signing the pledge, these companies agree to be strongholds in the on-going discussion on climate change by investing in clean energy and providing support to climate change leadership. Apple vows to stay true to the pledge as follows:

Apple, already running all of its U.S. operations on 100% renewable energy, will bring an estimated 280 megawatts of clean power generation online by the end of 2016 through investments in Arizona, California, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon and Sichuan Province, China. Since 2011, Apple has reduced carbon emissions from its global corporate facilities, data centers and retail stores by 48%.

When the initiative is in full swing, President Obama hopes to “cut nearly 6 billion tons of carbon pollution through 2030, an amount equivalent to taking all the cars in the United States off the road for more than 4 years.”

All of this comes as the U.S. prepares for the United Nation’s climate change-focused conference (named COP21), which will be hosted in Paris in December this year.

This isn’t Apple’s first step towards a greener and cleaner future. Back in May, Apple topped Greenpeace’s Clean Energy Index for their green practices. The company also plans on including some eco-friendly practices into the new Apple campus in Cupertino, dubbed “The Spaceship”. These include renewable energy sources, electric car charging ports, and a plethora of green spaces. Tim Cook even boasted that Campus 2 would be “the greenest building on the planet.”

How have you changed your lifestyle to benefit the environment? Let us know in the comments below?