Apple Tries to Avoid Sustainability Reporting

January 12, 2009

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Recently, Apple has unveiled a number of new green products, but they’re opposed to a shareholder resolution that would require them to publish a corporate social responsibility (CSR) report. Proposed by environmental group As You Sow, the resolution calls for detail about Apple’s approach to greenhouse gases, toxins, recycling, and more.

As You Sow is a group co-sponsored by the New York City Office of the Comptroller and the Green Century Equity Fund. They reason that many of Apple’s direct competitors, including Dell, IBM, and HP, already publish CSR reports, as do over 2,700 other public companies. Apple’s board, however, has issued a proxy filing that asks shareholders to vote against this resolution, saying that the publication would be an unnecessary expense that would “produce little added value.” Al Gore is a member of Apple’s board.

Apple already has environmental information on their website, including a supplier responsibility page and environmental page. However, this isn’t the first time that As You Snow has pressured Apple into doing more official reporting, and in the past, Greenpeace has also criticized Apple for not having published information on their green policies.

In the past week, Apple has been praised by environmentally conscious consumers for their new 17-inch MacBook Pro, which they claim is part of the “world’s greenest family of notebooks.” They’re recognized by consumers as one of the most environmentally friendly technology companies, whether that is true or not.

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Reader Comments

Everyone knows you can’t manage what you don’t measure. The first step to reducing your footprint is to establish your baseline. Publishing a carbon report—and then tracking the results of your reduction efforts—on a public registry is also a great way to showcase your organization’s corporate social responsibility efforts. CSA just launched the GHG CleanStart™ Registry to help organizations measure, monitor and manage their carbon emissions. Check it out at http://www.csa.ca/carbonperformance.

steph | January 12th, 2009

@ carbonperformance,

That is so true. Take the new plug in electric cars that Detroit are touting as the epitome of GREEN.

If your city’s electricity comes from a coal, diesel or natural gas fired plant, then your electric car is not green at all. It might just be dirtier than a fuel efficient gasoline powered car.

nuclearpowerisgreenest.com

Al | January 12th, 2009