Apple to Use Only Recycled Cobalt in Batteries by 2025 in Bid to Become Carbon Neutral

Apple said on Thursday it would use only recycled cobalt in batteries by 2025 as a part of its efforts to make all its products carbon neutral by the end of the decade.

Magnets in Apple devices will use recycled rare earth elements, and in-house designed printed circuit boards will use recycled tin soldering and gold plating, the company said.

Apple is pushing to become carbon neutral through its entire supply chain and the life cycle of every product by 2030. On Tuesday, it also doubled its financial commitment to a fund it had established two years ago to invest in projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere.

In the past, several tech companies have been accused of being complicit in the death of children in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) forced to mine cobalt, a critical material in the batteries used in most consumer electronics.

Most cobalt is produced as a by-product of copper or nickel mining, but artisanal miners in southern Congo exploit deposits near the surface that are rich in cobalt.

A quarter of all cobalt used in Apple products came from recycled material in 2022, up from 13 percent a year earlier, Apple said.

It now sources over two-thirds of all aluminum, nearly three-quarters of all rare earths, and more than 95 percent of all tungsten in its products from recycled material.

© Thomson Reuters 2023