This month, tech giant Apple announced the launch of a “first-of-its-kind” carbon removal program, the Restore Fund, to invest in forestry carbon sequestering projects while also generating a return for investors. The news was first reported on the industry news site Global AgInvesting. The $200 million fund, launched jointly with Conservation International, which has signed on as co-investor, and Goldman Sachs, which will manage it, will aim to remove at least 1 million metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year (equivalent to fuel emissions from 200,000 passenger vehicles), while providing financial proof-of-concept for ongoing investment in global reforestation.
“Nature provides some of the best tools to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Forests, wetlands, and grasslands draw carbon from the atmosphere and store it away permanently in their soils, roots, and branches,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives. “Through creating a fund that generates both a financial return as well as real, and measurable carbon impacts, we aim to drive broader change in the future — encouraging investment in carbon removal around the globe. Our hope is that others share our goals and contribute their resources to support and protect critical ecosystems.”
Apple is hoping to achieve total carbon neutrality across its entire value by the year 2030, 75 percent of which will come from direct company efforts to eliminate emissions from its products and supply chain. The hope is that the Restore Fund will take care of the remaining 25 percent, while demonstrating a method of doing so at a scale that may create a blueprint for other companies.
According to Apple, the Restore Fund will verify its results using acknowledged international standards by groups like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the U.N. Climate Convention and Verra. Apple says the fund will prioritize investments in working forests that improve biodiversity through the creation of forest buffer zones and set-asides.
“Innovation is core to Apple’s approach to climate solutions, and Goldman Sachs is proud to partner with them and Conservation International,” said Dina Powell, Global Head of Sustainability and Inclusive Growth at Goldman Sachs. “We all agree that the urgency of climate transition requires private capital to work alongside new and established efforts aimed at sustainably removing carbon from the atmosphere with rigor and high standards. We believe launching this fund can catalyze significant additional investment capital for climate impact.”
For the past three years, 100 percent of the virgin wool fiber that Apple has used in its packaging has been responsibly sourced. Apple says that fiber sourcing is the company’s first “closed-loop material” investment toward its future goal of one day making products using only recycled or renewable materials–and, toward that end, 93 percent of packaging for Apple’s latest generation iPhone 12 series comes from responsibly sourced fiber materials. The company has also improved the management of more than 1 million acres of forests (and counting), having worked previously with Conservation International on grassland, wetland and forest projects.
