NEW DELHI (India CSR): Despite ambitious climate commitments by Apple, the company’s India suppliers – who now assemble one in every five iPhones – are making negligible progress on renewable energy adoption, according to new research by think tank Climate Risk Horizons.
Apple aims to reduce its scope 1,2, and 3 emissions by 75% by 2030 from a 2015 baseline and has mandated its suppliers and final assembly sites to switch to 100% clean electricity by 2030. Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions collectively capture all greenhouse gases a company is responsible for, from its own operations (Scope 1), the energy it buys (Scope 2), and everything across its value chain, including suppliers and product use (Scope 3). In FY2024, 20% of the world’s iPhones were assembled in India, with the share expected to increase. However, the report “Greening India’s Apple” found limited progress on renewable energy (RE) adoption on the part of 13 Apple suppliers in India.
“Only 2 out of 13 Apple suppliers with manufacturing units in India have reported the use of RE in their sustainability reports,” said Simran Kalra, lead author of the report. “This is a far cry from Apple’s goal of 100% RE use in its supply-chain by 2030. Suppliers are also lagging in energy data monitoring and verification. Addressing these gaps is essential to make Apple’s Scope 3 emissions reporting accurate and credible.”
Out of the 13 suppliers manufacturing for Apple in India, only FIH Mobile Ltd. (a Foxconn subsidiary) and Flex Ltd. have procured RE through ‘high-impact’ means like Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), self-built solar and bundled retail electricity. While FIH ran its operation on 35% RE in 2024, Flex used 27.5% in 2023 and 2022, based on their sustainability reports. The remaining 11 suppliers either did not use any RE in India, purchased low-impact energy attribute certificates, or did not report any information regarding RE procurement for Indian
plants. Tata Electronics claims carbon neutrality but only through the purchase of low-impact International Renewable Energy Credits (i-RECs).
India’s grid emissions fall only when new renewable capacity displaces marginal coal generation. High-impact procurement, such as RE PPAs, contributes to this shift. Purchasing RECs, by contrast, does not alter how much fossil electricity is generated or consumed, which is why they are considered low-impact in decarbonisation accounting.
The report examined the latest publicly available sustainability reports, climate policies and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) reports of Apple and its suppliers in India. It also found that 10 out of 13 suppliers are based in states with high open access capacity and strong green energy growth, such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Despite this, they are not utilising open access RE for their operations, exposing a major gap in Apple’s supply chain decarbonisation efforts.
Globally, Apple has reported a constant decline in its market-based emissions, which it attributes to clean energy use by its suppliers. However, the report finds that low-impact and low-transparency instruments like unbundled RE certificates (RECs) made up more than 50% of RE procurement in 2023 and 2024 among Apple’s global suppliers.
The report recommends that Apple push its suppliers to opt for high-impact RE procurement mechanisms like long-term PPAs or on-site/owned generation instead of unbundled RECs. Apple should also require comprehensive monitoring and independent verification of energy data by its suppliers for all production sites. In some countries, Apple has invested directly in new RE infrastructure to help decarbonise its supply chain, but has yet to do this in India. Climate Risk Horizon’s Ashish Fernandes said, “Apple’s choice of India as a manufacturing hub is an excellent move, but the lacklustre performance of its suppliers on the RE front is worrying. Apple needs to ensure its Indian suppliers are on track to meet the 2030 100% RE goal. This is eminently feasible given India’s vibrant RE ecosystem, but it does need Apple, their suppliers and local discoms to address the issue proactively.”
(India CSR)
