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Abstract
In this Project I am very excited to write about Apple. How it is trying to fight
against Climate Change and how it Supports the SDGs by means of improvising its
methods of production like using sustainable materials for its products or recycling its
products after customer usage. I have also included graphs to help the reader
understand better. Apple is doing great work when it comes to making top class
gadgets, however one of their other main goals is to become a Carbon Neutral
Company before 2030. Despite Apple cutting down most carbon emission from their
side, Apple also is motivating its suppliers to switch to a more eco-friendly method of
production. I have discussed many more topics in detail like this one. I hope you as a
reader have clicked your seatbelt in place because you are going to see a lot of
amazing stuff about Apple through the course of this booklet!

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 Acknowledgement

I take this opportunity to thank the management of our school Vidyashilp Academy for
giving me an opportunity to undertake this research study in the form of the titled
< Apple - Recycled Materials and Clean Energy > . I would like to express my deepest gratitude
to my teacher Ms. Siji Vargese for all the guidance and continued encouragement and support
given throughout this study. I would like to thank our Head of the school Ms. Kalai Selvi for
always giving us the required support in academic matters whenever required. Last but not the
least, I would like to thank and express my regards to my family and all friends for their exclusive
contribution without which the project would not have been completed efficiently.

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 SDG - An Introduction
SDGs are a group of goals initiated by the UNO(United Nations Organization) to fight some of the
most challenging, yet deadly problems in the world. Such as hunger, climate change, etc. The acronym
“SDG” stands for “Sustainable Development Goals”. SDGs are motivating individuals and governments to
accept these challenges and also try to make a difference by fighting them in their respective lives or
countries/communities. Many companies have taken the advantage of SDGs to make themselves
greener, and more eco-friendly. In addition UNO motivates different institutions all over the world, to
work towards these goals and consequently educate the youth to target these goals as well. Vidyashilp
Academy based in Bangalore, India is one of such schools which educates about and promotes the SDGs.
I can say this as I study at VSA, and I have really enjoyed learning about these amazing, optimistic goals.
The following list contains all the SDGs.

- No Poverty
- Zero Hunger
- Good Health and Well Being
- Quality Education
- Gender Equality
- Clean water and Sanitization
- Affordable and Clean Energy
- Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- Reduced Inequalities
- Sustainable Cities and Communities
- Responsible Consumption and Productions
- Climate action
- Life Below Water
- Life on Land
- Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- Partnership for the Goals

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Research Company: Apple

Brief History:
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company, headquartered in Cupertino,
California. Apple was founded by Ronald Wayne, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak on 1st April 1975. ‘To
bring the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software, and
services.’ is the mission statement of Apple. Apple’s first ever product was the Apple 1. A major
Milestone of Apple should be the Macintosh computer. Macintosh was the first ever computer that
made use of icons for user interaction.

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 CSR relation to Apple

CSR stands for Corporate Social Responsibility. CSR is a responsibility of any Multinational
company. It is what a multinational company does to ensure its operations are ethical and beneficial to
society. CSR, in India, is being followed by many companies including Apple. One major rule in
correlation with CSR, that is in action as of today by the Indian government is: Companies with Annual
Profit of Rs 5 Crore or Annual Turnover of Rs 1000 Crore or Net Worth of Rs 500 Crore must spend on
CSR activities 2% of their average profit over the last three years. Apple was obligated to spend Rs.
210,995,634 in the name of CSR for the year 2020/2021. Apple has spent Rs. 257,678,069 in the
financial year of 2020-2021.

In India, Apple has helped the Akanksha Foundation to provide quality education to
underprivileged communities in Mumbai and Pune. This way Apple is on a journey to provide
underprivileged students with the same opportunities that the privileged students have. Apple has
allocated a total of 89,047,872 Rs. for this project.

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 Additionally, in India, Apple has partnered with EnAble India to provide quality education to
students with disabilities. Apple has supported EnAble India in these many states as listed: Andhra
Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala,
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tail Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and
West bengal. This shows how Apple works in India as a Multinational company, yet is still contributing to
the well-being of the handycapped livelihood. Apple has spent a total of 18,630,197 Rs. for this project.

EnAble India

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 Apple has also contributed to the PM-CARES fund aimed to win the fight against Covid-19. The
PM-CARES fund is a fund initiated by the Prime Minister of India, PM Narendra Modi. The PM-CARES
fund has a main focus of fighting against covid-19 and encouraging research to beat covid-19. Apple has
donated to the PM-CARES fund, hence is helping India fight against one of the deadliest pandemics the
world and India has seen. Apple has donated a total of 150,000,000 Rs. to the PM-CARES FUND.

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 In summary, Apple does contribute to CSR and also values its benefits. This means Apple does
spend big amounts of money on CSR. Furthermore, Apple has spent more money on CSR, only in India
than it was obliged to. Apple partners with companies and invests in them that benefit India in a big way.
This way Apple has helped many underprivileged communities in India due to its partnerships with such
companies. Apple does document these expenditures and files them to the government and the Indian
public. Before 2011 Apple did not contribute so much, however after Tim Cook took over the company
some positive inclination towards CSR was seen, like a new department for CSR was seen at Apple,
headed by Lisa Jackson who reports directly to the CEO.

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 SDG for Apple

- Apple wants to become a carbon neutral company before 2030

Apple has spent a lot of money on green energy and on its quest to become a
carbon neutral company till 2030. Such expenditures include Apple offices powered by
Solar panels and green practices. Apple also spends money on building recycling centers
over the world some examples are listed below:

-9000-square-meters Material Recovery Lab in Austin, Texas

-further investments in upgrading its facilities to replicate the capabilities of

government-certified recycling and material recovery centers

- the utilization of robots such as Liam and Daisy to efficiently disassemble iPhone
models using AI and guided human input.

- Apple Tackles SDG 7

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- Motivate suppliers to use renewable methods of production
More than 110 of Apple’s suppliers have committed to using clean energy to
date. Estimates revealed that its efforts have helped avoid more than 8 million metric
tons of carbon emissions. As part of its plan to motivate suppliers to be more green, the
company audits potential and current suppliers to evaluate the environmental impacts
and profile of their raw materials. For this purpose, it uses standards based on the
guidelines set out by the international community.

The following bar graph represents the amount of Co2 emitted and saved from year 2011 to year 2018. From this
graph, it can be seen that in the future more emissions will be avoided by a company like Apple.

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- Protect and/or restore grasslands, forests, wetlets
To protect the Environment, Apple has invested USD 200 million Restore Fund for
carbon capture solutions. Apple hopes to remove 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide
per year and to scale this up further. Like for CSRs, Apple has also partnered with
government and non-government organizations in protection and restoration efforts
across the world like: World Wildlife Fund and The Conservation, Fund for forest
restoration efforts in China and the United States, INVEMAR Research Institute and
Corporación Autónoma Regional del Valles del Sinú for mangrove protection and
restoration in Columbia.

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Recommendations

I think Apple is doing a great job at helping the environment. It has great robots
recycling its products, making recycling centers is also a great step towards green materials.
However, I think there are still some things Apple could do to improve.

1) I would recommend Apple to host events talking about recycling materials, clean energy,
and helping people realize how important it is to do the same.
2) I would recommend Apple to spend more towards its CSR unit. Thus way apple could
contribute more world wide
3) I would recommend Apple to SEAL its products with tags to indicate if they are recycled
or not.

Apple is doing great from a contribution perspective. I think if Apple should work this
way, it can reach its goal of becoming a carbon neutral company till 2030.

All in all, sustainability in my opinion, is the idea of making changes in simple things and
processes to see a great change in the world. With this definition, Apple is making great
progress in changing its products to be more sustainable and its processes are going to change a
lot in the world if they are changed more and made more Eco friendly.

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 Conclusion

Apple has contributed to the Indian public and the world in a big way. It has set goals for
itself like that of becoming carbon neutral till 2030. It's surprising how Apple, being such a big
technological company, has supported the environment in the same way it has to its size. Not
only the company, Apple has helped so many underprivileged communities only in India, just
imagine how many more it will in the world! Apple, with donations has also helped India recover
from the apocalyptic covid-19.

I want to mention here, as to what I have learnt throughout this project, the following lost
summarizes the same:

- I learnt time management - I learnt how to divide my time to finish this project and how to
prioritize my tasks for an efficient and quality outcome
- I learnt not matter how big you are, you must always think of your surroundings - I was
very much inspired by Apple to help the environment and give back to my community
- I learnt about SDGs and their importance. - I learnt how important it is to deal with one
thing at a time and what is the UN and world doing to help make Earth a better place to
live
- I learnt about how CSR works. - I learnt why CSR is important and how Multinational
companies benefit India due to their CSR initiatives and other ways

We had learnt many things about Multinational Companies in school but because of this
booklet, I got experience how this works in real work and how important it is to master these
concepts at a school level to apply the same in the real world.

I also got to learn about these multinational companies that want to set up in India for the
amazing benefits they get to reap from us and also vice-versa. The Indian perspective reminds
me of one quote: You reap what you sow. I thought of mentioning this as this has been the fate
of India for these past decades. We have been improving our country and taking advantage of
your amazing population to attract multinational companies like Apple towards us. This way new
technologies are introduced in India, better infrastructure is seen and not to mention about all
these companies sustainable methods of production and a lot more interesting things. I think
sustainable goals are a great step towards a better future and a clean, prosperous future.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

“Apple's Biggest Milestones.” CNET,

https://www.cnet.com/pictures/apples-biggest-milestones-pictures/5/.

Apple’s CSR Policy Explained (2022 Guide) | Asktraders.com.

https://www.asktraders.com/learn-to-trade/ethical-trading/apple-csr-policy/.

“Https://Www.apple.com/Legal/More-Resources/Docs/Apple-India-Annual-CSR.pdf.”
Corporate Social Responsibility Annual Report of Apple India Private Limited (the
“Company”) FY 2019-20, Apple India Private Limited,
https://www.apple.com/legal/more-resources/docs/Apple-India-Annual-CSR.pdf.

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