Apple makes a major energy investment in Europe

In what may become another strategically positive moat around its business, Apple has announced a huge 650MW European energy investment to ensure the energy required to use its devices and services is offset with renewable power.

The move forms  part of a global commitment as the company moves to build a circular business by 2030.

Apple dramatically cuts Scope 3 emissions

The energy used to charge Apple devices accounted for around 29% of the company’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2024, contributing a large amount to its Scope 3 emissions. The company is working toward becoming completely carbon neutral across its business, and slashing Scope 3 emissions is an integral part of that. The company has already slashed emissions by 60% since 2015.

To help achieve this, Apple is supporting development of large wind and solar energy farms in Greece, Italy, Latvia, Romania, and Poland. This follows a similar investment in Spain earlier this year. Together, these Apple-enabled projects will add 650 megawatts of renewable energy capacity to electrical grids across Europe in the coming years.

The aim is to ensure energy neutrality across the product lifecycle, from manufacturing to disposal and at each step between.

Cleaner tech, plentiful energy supply

While these energy producers will simply feed the energy they produce into their local grid, the idea is that Apple can use that energy production to offset the energy consumed by users. The overall intention is to match 100% of the electricity Apple’s customers use in Europe, (including the UK, which is part of the European tectonic bloc) to run their devices within five years. 

“By 2030, we want our users to know that all the energy it takes to charge their iPhone or power their Mac is matched with clean electricity,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives. “Our new projects in Europe will help us achieve our ambitious Apple 2030 goal, while contributing to healthy communities, thriving economies, and secure energy sources across the continent.” 

Apple is working to enable renewable energy projects worldwide – you can learn more about its overall strategic approach here. In addition to these investments, Apple and its suppliers support more than 19 gigawatts of renewable energy for use across its global corporate operations and manufacturing supply chain — including (I believe), Apple services such as Apple Intelligence.

Energy intelligence for Apple Intelligence

Because Apple now has manufacturing, its own business operations, and customer energy use met through renewables, the company is ahead in the game of sourcing sufficient energy supply. 

This should give it a competitive advantage as investment in energy to power AI accelerates. While competitors seek the energy, Apple’s low-energy high-performing systems will deliver Apple Intelligence at the edge, no additional energy required.

In context, this matters because for many reasons, Europe is struggling with energy prices; and in the UK, where energy is completely privatized, domestic energy bills are the highest in the region. 

Apple estimates it will need to put in place a system to produce 3,000 GWh of renewable energy a year to match the electricity customers use for charging. The newly announced projects bring about a third of that amount, meaning Apple will need to continue to expand its investment in renewable energy in Europe to becoming completely energy neutral by 2030.

Abundance?

“This agreement represents the first international long-term corporate power purchase agreement and the largest CPPA in the Baltic region,” said Gregor McDonald, vice president, head of energy trading and PPA for European Energy, which is building a 110MW solar energy facility with support from Apple in Latvia. “Together with Apple, we are enabling new solar capacity to be built and contributing to the energy independence of European countries.”

“Together, we are creating the infrastructure backbone that makes sustainable operations achievable for companies worldwide while accelerating the path toward a decarbonized energy system,” said Andreas Schell, CEO, ib vogt which now produces 131MW solar energy in Spain with Apple’s help.

Building business, one energy supplier at a time

Speaking to PA News Agency, Jackson stressed that the move to renewables is a business decision. The company invests in good renewables firms that will make money selling the energy they create.

“So, we invest in businesses, and those businesses are investing, not out of the goodness of their heart, but because they see an opportunity to do what businesses do, which is make money selling the energy that comes from these projects,” she said. 

The bottom line is that it makes sense to invest in renewable energy to help reduce the cost of energy overall, while making energy more widely available. That’s going to be of particular significance as the energy demands of AI increase.

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