Apple Faces the Future with 2030 Pledge – Featuring an Adorable Baby

Hot on the heels of Burger King’s sustainability pledge, tech giants Apple have released their own promise to shrink their environmental impact. But where Burger King tipped out the whole box of tricks in their colourful Michel Gondry-directed ad, Apple have opted for simplicity and intimacy with a short film about a sleeping baby.

The ad features a tender, fatherly voice over as a man promises that by 2030 Apple will have zero carbon footprint, across its supply chain and product usage cycle. The blue-tinged spot centres on a little baby called Idan, a name that translates to ‘magic’ in the West African Yoruba language.

“You don’t know us, you won’t understand what I’m about to say, but one day Idan you will,” the voice intones. “Because we want to make you a promise. We want to be held to it and every year for years to come we’ll remain committed to it – a promise between you, us and the planet. We promise that everything we make, how we make it and even how you use it will be carbon neutral by your tenth birthday.” 

Alongside the film, the brand has released the following statement:

Apple is carbon neutral. But that’s not enough. We reached that goal in April 2020, and we’re certainly proud that our facilities, corporate emissions, and corporate travel don’t contribute carbon to the planet. We use 100 percent renewable electricity, and we’ve invested in the restoration of forests, wetlands, and grasslands to remove carbon naturally. However, all of this is just a starting point. We have an entirely different goal in mind. It’s kind of an audacious plan. By 2030 our whole carbon footprint — from manufacturing to transportation to end-of-life material recovery — will be nonexistent. All of Apple will be 100 percent carbon neutral. To do that, we’ll be using renewable energy and recycled materials throughout our supply chain. We’ll be restoring natural ecosystems around the world. And we’ll reuse as much as we can. While designing the world’s most innovative products, we’re also designing a sustainable manufacturing process. To really get to carbon zero while making products people all over the world love — a lot of people might say that’s impossible. We say it won’t be. Keep an eye on us and see.