Here's How Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 Are 'Carbon-Neutral'

Apple said on Tuesday that three of its Apple Watch models would be available in carbon-neutral versions with a new green label on their boxes, with the greatest difference being that most of the transit will be by boat rather than plane.

Apple, including its supply chain, aspires to be carbon neutral by 2030. One of the most difficult issues will be reducing emissions from Apple's fast transportation network, which is highly reliant on planes.

Apple was a pioneer in employing planes to transport consumer goods from plants in China to destinations across the world, reducing inventory and increasing revenues.

Apple executives said in an interview at Apple's Cupertino, California, headquarters that for the three new watches, half of shipments by weight from the factory to destinations such as regional distribution hubs will take place via boats, trains, or other non-air methods that burn less fuel and produce fewer carbon emissions that warm the planet.

The three green-labeled versions of the Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch SE, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 will have lower emissions than Apple's baseline estimates based on previous products, according to Lisa Jackson, the company's head of environmental and governance efforts.

"We could theoretically do that (buy offsets) tomorrow and everything would be carbon neutral," Jackson explained. "But we wanted to be really clear that we're taking action on everything we know how to do to reduce (emissions) with existing technology." 

According to the firm, a Series 8 watch generates 33kg of carbon emissions from raw materials through delivery to end users.

After Apple's revisions, the new climate-friendly aluminum Series 9 with a sport loop band will have 8.1kg of emissions remaining, which the firm will offset by purchasing carbon credits. This compared to 29kg of emissions for the regular stainless steel Series 9 in the same band.

Apple has been working to reduce carbon emissions for some time. All new watches, including ordinary editions, feature recycled aluminum and titanium alloys, as well as batteries containing solely recycled cobalt, a mineral whose extraction raises both environmental and human rights issues. 

"We're absolutely planning to roll that out across" additional Apple devices in the future, according to John Ternus, the company's hardware engineering leader. "As we push forward and engage with suppliers in these recycled material supply chains, we find that we're usually the first ones talking to them about it."

The green-labeled timepieces will be the same price as the ordinary models. Executives did not explicitly comment on whether they will be less lucrative than traditional ones, but Jackson stated that Apple is committed on developing improvements that it and other businesses can take forward.

"In order to make this replicable, it couldn't be a premium, because most businesses are willing to make the change, but they still need to be able to be in business, make money, pay their workers, and buy materials," Jackson explained.

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