Apple said on Thursday it has nearly doubled the number of suppliers using only clean energy for production work, including two that assemble and make the processor chips for the iPhone.
Forty-four companies are now in the programme, Apple said, including Hon Hai Precision Industry, whose Foxconn unit makes iPhones, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, which supplies the A-series chips that power all of Apple’s mobile devices. Apple had previously disclosed 23 suppliers in the programme.
Apple did not specify where the new suppliers in the programme would get the clean energy. It encourages suppliers to build their own renewable energy projects, such as when iPad assembler Compal in 2018 built rooftop solar installations on its factories in China. In an interview, Lisa Jackson, Apple vice-president of environment, policy and social initiatives, said the company is also on track to pass its goal of adding 4GW of renewable energy to the grids of its supply chain by 2020 and has a sight line to well over 5GW.