As Tim Cook’s tenure as Apple CEO comes to an end, the company is left with a generally positive but controversial environmental legacy. During Cook’s tenure, Apple set industry-leading targets to reduce pollution caused by its products and suppliers. The company did not increase its carbon footprint as emissions from Google and Microsoft rose due to the energy needs of their AI investments.
According to Apple’s latest environmental report, the company emitted 15.3 million metric tons of gross carbon dioxide in 2025, equivalent to the emissions of 40 natural gas power plants operating for a year. In 2020, Apple set a target of reducing its carbon emissions by 75% by the end of the decade compared with 2015 levels. So far, a 60% reduction has been achieved. While emissions declined every year starting in 2021, they remained flat between 2024 and 2025. The company explained this as emissions not increasing despite significant business growth.
Apple also applied high standards for renewable electricity among its suppliers. In a 2023 assessment by Stand.earth, Apple was identified as the only company among Dell, Google, HP, Microsoft and Nvidia to set a target of 100% renewable electricity for its suppliers. In 2025, Apple received a B+ grade from Greenpeace East Asia for its efforts to increase renewable energy in its supply chain. At the same time, allegations that forced labor and conflict minerals were present in Apple’s supply chain also came to the fore.
The company marketed some Apple Watch models in 2023 as the first “carbon-neutral” devices. However, environmental groups argued that the removal of the requirement for suppliers to publicly disclose their greenhouse gas emissions made it more difficult to verify these claims. A class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of customers was dismissed this year by a federal judge in California. Apple also abandoned these advertisements after the European Union’s efforts to ban the use of the term “carbon-neutral” on products.
Despite Apple’s emissions reductions, Cook joined Amazon, GM and other major companies in opposing efforts to establish stricter international rules for greenhouse gas reporting. In 2025, he attended Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration ceremony, donated $1 million to the inaugural committee and later gave Trump a statue made of gold and glass.
According to experts, generative AI will be the decisive test for Cook’s climate legacy. For Apple to keep the growth of its AI within its existing climate commitments, it will need to demonstrate progress on absolute emissions reductions, new investments in renewable energy and longer-lasting products.
Why it matters
The environmental legacy of the Cook era shows that Apple’s climate policy must be assessed not only through its own operations but also through practices across its supply chain. The recent halt in progress on emissions reductions raises the question of how commercial growth will be balanced with environmental targets. The renewable electricity standard for suppliers and claims about carbon-neutral products also make it necessary to examine measurement and verification processes independently of the company’s statements. Allegations related to forced labor and conflict minerals show that climate performance cannot be considered separately from working conditions and raw-material sources. How AI investments will be reconciled with the existing absolute emissions reduction target following Cook’s departure will serve as a key measure of the scope and credibility of Apple’s environmental commitments.
Background
Cook is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we have published 5 news reports mentioning the name in the past 90 days; the most recent is dated 2 September 2026.
Term: supply chain
A supply chain is the combination of production and transportation links through which a product passes from raw materials to the end user.