Apple's 'Carbon Neutral' Claim for Watches Under Scrutiny: Is It Overstated?

Apple has been sued by a group of customers who claim that the company’s branding that suggests three of its Apple Watches are “carbon neutral” and environmentally friendly is false.

In a complaint submitted to the San Jose federal courthouse on Wednesday, seven owners of Apple Watches tagged green claimed that regardless of their knowledge of the truth, they would not have purchased the watches or would have bought it for a much lower price instead.

Apple, which is also known for its iPhones, started selling the watches during September of 2023 claiming that the product will be carbon neutral because of a combination of lower emissions and purchases of carbon offsets.

However, the California, Florida and Washington D.C. plaintiffs stated that Apple’s two carbon offset projects claiming they could net reductions towards the corporations emissions target did not have any credible carbon removal benefits in them.

According to them, a large portion of land in Kenya’s Chyulu Hills Project is located in a national park which has had protections against deforestation since 1983, while the land for China’s Guinan Project was heavily treed prior to the start of the project in 2015.

The complaint reads, “In both scenarios, the carbon reductions would take place whether or not Apple was involved, or even if the projects were in place. Because Apple’s neutrality claims revolve around the success and authenticity of these projects, Apple’s carbon-neutrality claims are disingenuous.”

In addition, the plaintiffs conducted research with the National Retail Federation and IBM and determined that 70% of U.S. and Canadian consumers purchase goods with environmental sustainability in mind.

Apple did not touch on the lawsuit in detail, but maintained their position on the environment when responding on Thursday.

According to the company, “We have significantly reduced Apple Watch emissions by more than 75 percent, and we are making large investments in nature-based projects aimed at removing hundreds of thousands of metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere.” The contrast of these claims and Apple’s reputation is what fuels the customer's questions, “Why?”

The California-based firm claims it intends to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 in the entirety of its supply chain.

The lawsuit on Wednesday requested an unnamed amount of damages as well as a prohibitive order to stop Apple from advertising the three models of watches as carbon neutral.

Apple Inc, U.S District Court Norther District of California, No 25 02043 are the names of the cases.