Does anyone know of a trustworthy third party that scrutinizes Apple's claims? I'm accusing Apple of lying, but I'd like to get more context than "100 percent recycled cobalt". That sounds great, but what about all the other metals? What does 'recycled' mean here, exactly? And so on.

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saagarjha 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

Not sure if it's trustworthy, but they ran into trouble advertising this in Europe: https://9to5mac.com/2023/10/24/carbon-neutral-apple-watch-cl...

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latexr 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Check their annual report.

https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_Pr...

To see previous ones, simply change the year in the URL.

You can get to that from apple.com/environment or apple.com/2030 (which redirects to the former). Near the end, right before and in the appendix you can find third-party independent reviews and assessments.

Now, are those trustworthy? I don’t know. But it gives you the context to start looking. The broader document will also probably help answer the other specific questions.

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evilduck 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

They include their auditor's reports in their document, around page 100: https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_Pr...

Do you also distrust those?

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latexr 3 days ago | parent [-]

> Do you also distrust those?

I suspect the OP made a mistake and forgot the word “not” in “I'm accusing Apple of lying, but I'd like to get more context than” (otherwise the “but” makes little sense).

I expect they are asking in good faith if there are audits, not accusing the auditors of being corrupt.

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bombcar 3 days ago | parent [-]

It really comes down to whether we trust Apple to do the work; auditors can be found that will certify anything you need even if not at the fraud levels of Arthur Anderson.

And this kind of thing can be hard to independently verify.

Given Apple’s track record I suspect they actually do care about this internally and spend the effort to make sure it is “real”.

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evilduck 3 days ago | parent [-]

I don't expect absolute perfection from Apple but I think they are putting in good faith effort towards these improvements and are just proud of their accomplishments.

If it was strictly a feel-good PR effort then that would have the complete opposite effect if their environmental claims were found to be fabricated, and it would just take one whistleblower anywhere in their own staff, their auditing teams, or anywhere in their global supply chain to bring down that whole facade.

	▲	bombcar 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		I agree, it seems to be something Tim Apple personally cares about and he'd not likely to want the smoke blown. Apple has independently clamped down on suppliers without being forced to, iirc.