Apple announces 200 mln USD fund in forestry projects to reduce carbon from atmosphere

SAN FRANCISCO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Apple announced on Thursday a carbon removal initiative called the Restore Fund that will make investments in forestry projects to remove carbon from the atmosphere while generating a financial return for investors.

Launched with Conservation International and Goldman Sachs, Apple's 200-million-U.S.-dollar fund aims to remove at least 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually from the atmosphere, equivalent to the amount of fuel used by over 200,000 passenger vehicles, while demonstrating a viable financial model that can help scale up investment in forest restoration, the announcement said.

Conservation International is a co-investor in the fund, Goldman Sachs is managing the fund. The three parties will identify new projects later this year, Apple said.

"Nature provides some of the best tools to remove carbon from the atmosphere," 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," she added.

Last July, Apple unveiled its goal of being 100 percent carbon neutral across its supply chain and entire product lifecycle by 2030. While the company will directly eliminate 75 percent of emissions for its supply chain and products by 2030, the fund will help address the remaining 25 percent of Apple's emissions by removing carbon from the atmosphere, according to the announcement.

In the past year, 15 additional Chinese suppliers have committed to joining that program, and to moving their Apple production to 100 percent renewable energy, the company said.

"As early as 2015, we launched a long-term plan for multi-year cooperation with the World Natural Foundation to build 1,000,000 acres of forests in China by 2020," said Isabel Ge Mahe, Apple's vice president and managing director of Greater China.

"We have achieved the target earlier. Now our forests in China can already meet our demand for wood fiber to produce packaging paper of our products," Ge told Xinhua.