HOW GREEN IS APPLE?
Do the company’s environmental efforts represent a clean break or marketing hype?
<span style='font-family:Impact'>By BEN CHARNY
Dow Jones Newswires</span>
Apple presents itself as an environmental leader. The company’s Web site bills its new line of MacBook computers as “the world’s greenest family of notebooks.” It has announced that it now makes iPods and iPhones free of polyvinyl chlorides and brominated flame retardant, and it’s in the final stages of making all of its products without bromine and chlorine. Both chemicals have been criticized for creating toxic byproducts.
Competitors and environmentalists, however, say Apple’s green efforts have less to do with cleaning up its products and manufacturing and more to do with marketing. (Related article in Opinion, Page 19)
In a recent blog posting, a senior executive at Dell writes that he was “surprised” by Apple’s claims of environmental friendliness. Environmental groups, like Greenpeace point to surveys ranking Apple below other computer makers such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard in green practices.
Apple is “using ‘green’ as a marketing ploy, rather than making green a core part of their business practices,” says Stephen Stokes, vice president of business and climate change at AMR Research.
<span style='color:red'>GOLD IN GREEN</span>
Success in promoting its record could help Apple lure more environmentally conscious consumers to the company’s products. Those types of consumers tend to be willing to pay more for green products, which could help Apple boost its sales and profits, and its slumping stock price, which is down to about half its peak level.
But determining Apple’s “green-ness” is difficult, because much of the information reported to authorities, like the Environmental Protection Agency, is provided voluntarily. Both Apple and its detractors have enough data to make their respective cases. However, Apple’s recent decision to highlight its environmental efforts leaves the company’s track record open to scrutiny and criticism.
Apple declined to comment for this article, but CEO Steve Jobs said in an October report on Apple’s Web site that his company was committed to developing green practices.
“I’m proud to report that all of Apple’s new product designs are on track to meet our 2008 year-end goal,” Mr. Jobs wrote. Among those: eliminating polyvinyl chloride and brominated flame retardants from all its products by 2009, and removing mercury and arsenic from its products’ displays.
Apple also has taken steps to release more information about its environmental policies, which have helped its image. A recent survey by Diffusion Group, a research company that studies the impact of green products on consumer decisions, found consumers view Apple as the world’s greenest company.
“Chalk it up to effective marketing,” Michael Greeson, president of the Diffusion Group, says of Apple’s green reputation.
Still, eight of Apple’s nine MacBooks—the computers it markets as the world’s greenest family of laptops—received the EPA’s gold standard for meeting environmental soundness criteria. Those notebooks garnered an average of 19.5 per unit on 21 optional measures suggested by the EPA.
By comparison, eight notebooks made by Taiwan’s Asustek Computer got the top rating, along with perfect 21 scores.
Dell and Hewlett-Packard, each of which submits more notebooks to the EPA for rating than Apple, also have products with gold ratings. Both companies have lower marks on the average optional measures. H-P, which has about 45 notebooks rated, averages 17.5. Dell, with 27 notebooks rated, averages 18.4.
<span style='color:red'>NO RESPONSE</span>
But critics say Apple doesn’t compare as favorably on other measures. For example, Dell and Hewlett-Packard report buying much more clean energy than Apple; Dell 58 times more, and Hewlett-Packard five times more, according to the latest disclosures the companies made to the EPA.
Each company reports its figures differently, so the numbers aren’t directly comparable. Still, they suggest other computer makers are making greater strides toward green business operations than Apple.
Other companies also appear to be making more progress than Apple on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions that are blamed for global warming. Hewlett-Packard reduced direct greenhouse gas emissions—one of three types that are tracked—by 25% over the years, according to data provided to environmental regulators. Over the same period, Apple reported a 3% reduction in “emissions” in its 2008 environmental update. Apple wouldn’t specify which type of emissions.
The apparent difference between Apple’s environmental record and its green rhetoric has prompted resentment among some of its competition.
Late last year, Bob Peterson, who runs environmental affairs at Dell, blasted Apple’s recent marketing campaign in a blog posting. He said that at least two Dell notebooks have better environmental ratings than Apple’s. “We wish Apple would be more bold in making a difference than making ads,” he wrote.
Apple also declines to provide key details about its manufacturing process to the Carbon Disclosure Project, which collects data about corporate greenhouse emissions via annual questionnaires that are publicly available. Rivals Dell and Hewlett-Packard answer most of the group’s questions.
Apple leaves the questionnaire largely blank.
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Overview
Apple is working to create an image as a “green” company, promoting energy-efficient products that are made without using harmful chemicals. But critics and competitors of the company dismiss the claims as little more than a marketing ploy.
Questions & Answers
List ways Apple presents itself as a “green” company.
Who are “green consumers,” and why are they so desirable?