Star Metro - Apple accused of greenwashing in US lawsuit

A civil suit filed Wednesday argues that two nature-based projects Apple cites to back claims of carbon neutrality are areas where trees would be growing regardless of whether the tech company was involved.

"Apple's carbon neutrality claims are false and misleading because both projects fail to provide genuine, additional carbon reductions," the suit contends.

Apple, however, rejects the claims, telling AFP Thursday the company had "drastically cut emissions for Apple Watch by over 75 percent, and we are investing significantly in nature-based projects to remove hundreds of thousands of metric tons of carbon from the air."

The US tech giant claims to have retired 485,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents primarily through the Chyulu Hills Project in Kenya and the Guinan Project in China, according to the suit.

The Chyulu Hills Project purports to generate carbon credits by preventing deforestation but is on land that has been legally protected from deforestation since 1983, the suit maintains.

The Guinan Project claims to have planted trees on barren land but the area was already heavily forested before the project began, according to the suit.

Plaintiffs in the case are asking for class-action status to represent everyone who has bought the Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra 2, or the second-generation Apple Watch SE.

"Companies engage in greenwashing to capitalize on growing environmental consciousness while avoiding the costs and challenges of achieving genuine sustainability," the complaint argued.

"Carbon neutrality claims based on offsetting are particularly susceptible to greenwashing when companies rely on ineffective or redundant offset projects that fail to deliver genuine environmental benefits."

P.Lefebvre--SMC