Apple Watch and Mac Mini No Longer Advertised as 'Carbon Neutral'

As spotted by the French blog WatchGeneration, the Apple Watch and Mac mini are no longer advertised as "carbon neutral" products on Apple's website.

While the Apple Watch Series 10 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 were labeled as "carbon neutral," when paired with select bands, the product pages for the new Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 omit any references to carbon neutrality worldwide.

In August, a German court ruled the Apple Watch could no longer be advertised as "carbon neutral," after a local environmental group accused Apple of "greenwashing." Apple removed the label from its German website shortly after that ruling, and it has since dropped all mentions of carbon neutrality from its product pages worldwide.

Another notable example is the Mac mini, which is no longer advertised as "carbon neutral" on Apple's website. This change took effect worldwide following Apple's iPhone event in September, despite the Mac mini not receiving any hardware upgrades.

Apple previously told Reuters it planned to drop the "carbon neutral" label in the entire EU, ahead of a regulation banning such claims when they are tied to "net-zero carbon offset projects" or "carbon credits." Evidently, though, Apple has decided to remove the label from its product pages everywhere, including in the United States.

In a 2023 press release, Apple said each carbon neutral Apple Watch model met the following strict criteria: 100% clean electricity used for manufacturing and product use, at least 30% recycled or renewable material by weight, and at least 50% of shipments occurring without air transportation. Apple said these combined efforts resulted in at least a 75% reduction in product emissions for each model, and it said it would use "high-quality carbon credits" to address the "small amount of remaining emissions."

Apple said its carbon credits would primarily come from "nature-based projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere, like restoring grasslands, wetlands, and forests," including working with Forestal Apepu to develop fast-growing eucalyptus forests for timber production on deforested lands in Paraguay. However, some ecologists said these plantations can actually "harm biodiversity and require high water usage," according to Reuters.

Apple's plans for using carbon credits going forward are unclear.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.