Deutsche Umwelthilfe environmentalists complained that Apple was misleading customers with the claim that the Apple Watch was a carbon-neutral product. Ultimately, the court agreed with the complaint. The group then praised the win in court against “greenwashing”.
Apple claimed that the Apple Watch was one of its first carbon-neutral devices back in 2023 with the Apple Watch Series 9. This was part of the company’s efforts to make every product carbon-neutral by 2030.
Basically, Apple uses clean energy for the manufacturing of the Apple Watch. To reduce carbon emissions, the company also uses 30% renewable material and ships 50% of the devices without air transportation.
Apple says that this results in a 75% reduction in product emissions. Then, the company says that for the remaining emissions, it uses “high-quality carbon credits”.
Apple Watch Series 10. | Image Credit – Apple
But Germany has a problem with the carbon credits the tech giant claims are valid for neutralizing Apple Watch carbon emissions. We are talking here about environmental projects under Apple’s Restore Fund, which supports forest restoration projects in Paraguay and Brazil.
This project was announced back in 2024. Apple worked with Forestal Apepu on fast-growing eucalyptus forests for timber production on lands where there is no forestation.
However, ecologists believe that monocultures like the one Apple is supporting harm biodiversity. On top of that, ecologists say that these also require too much water.
The leases on the land for Apple’s forest projects expire in 2029 (at least, many of them), so the German court has come to the conclusion that the forest project was not secure. Apple has stated that it plans to stop using the labeling of carbon-neutrality to comply with upcoming legislation in the European Union.
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