New Delhi: Even as Apple rapidly expands iPhone manufacturing in India, most of its suppliers in the country are falling short on renewable energy adoption, raising concerns about the tech giant’s ability to meet its climate commitments, according to a new report by climate think tank Climate Risk Horizons.
Apple has committed to reducing its Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 75% by 2030 from a 2015 baseline and has mandated that its suppliers and final assembly sites shift to 100% clean electricity by the end of the decade. Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions together account for all greenhouse gases a company is responsible for, including direct emissions from its operations, emissions from purchased energy and those generated across its value chain, such as suppliers and product use.
In FY2024, around 20% of the world’s iPhones were assembled in India, a share that is expected to rise further as Apple deepens its manufacturing footprint in the country. However, the report, titled Greening India’s Apple, finds that renewable energy adoption among Apple’s suppliers in India remains limited despite this rapid scale-up.
The study examined 13 Apple suppliers with manufacturing operations in India and found that only two of them have reported using renewable energy at their Indian facilities.
“Only two out of 13 Apple suppliers with manufacturing units in India have reported the use of renewable energy in their sustainability reports,” said Simran Kalra, lead author of the report. “This is a far cry from Apple’s goal of 100% renewable energy use in its supply chain by 2030. Suppliers are also lagging in energy data monitoring and verification. Addressing these gaps is essential to make Apple’s Scope 3 emissions reporting accurate and credible.”
Among the suppliers analysed, only FIH Mobile Ltd., a Foxconn subsidiary, and Flex Ltd. have procured renewable energy through what the report describes as high-impact mechanisms such as power purchase agreements, self-built solar projects and bundled retail electricity.
FIH reported running its operations on 35% renewable energy in 2024, while Flex used 27.5% renewable energy in 2022 and 2023, based on their sustainability disclosures. The remaining 11 suppliers either did not report using any renewable energy in India, relied on low-impact energy attribute certificates, or disclosed no information on renewable energy procurement for their Indian plants.
Tata Electronics, one of Apple’s key suppliers, has claimed carbon neutrality, but the report notes that this has been achieved largely through the purchase of low-impact International Renewable Energy Credits, or i-RECs.
The report highlights that reductions in India’s grid emissions occur only when new renewable capacity replaces marginal coal-based power generation.
High-impact procurement methods such as renewable energy PPAs help drive this transition, while the purchase of renewable energy certificates does not change the underlying mix of electricity generation. As a result, such certificates are considered low-impact from a decarbonisation accounting perspective.
Climate Risk Horizons analysed publicly available sustainability reports, climate policies and Carbon Disclosure Project filings of Apple and its suppliers in India. It also found that 10 of the 13 suppliers are located in states with high open-access renewable energy capacity and strong green energy growth, including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Despite favourable policy and infrastructure conditions, these suppliers have not significantly utilised open-access renewable energy for their operations, pointing to what the report describes as a major gap in Apple’s supply chain decarbonisation efforts in India.
At the global level, Apple has reported a steady decline in its market-based emissions, attributing this trend to increased clean energy use by suppliers.
However, the report notes that low-impact and low-transparency instruments such as unbundled renewable energy certificates accounted for more than half of renewable energy procurement by Apple’s global suppliers in 2023 and 2024.
The report recommends that Apple push its suppliers to prioritise high-impact renewable energy procurement mechanisms, including long-term PPAs and on-site or owned generation, rather than relying on unbundled certificates.
It also calls on the company to mandate comprehensive monitoring and independent verification of energy data across all supplier facilities. While Apple has invested directly in renewable energy infrastructure in some countries to decarbonise its supply chain, the report notes that similar investments have not yet been made in India.
Ashish Fernandes of Climate Risk Horizons said that while Apple’s decision to expand manufacturing in India is strategically sound, the performance of its suppliers on renewable energy remains a concern.
“Apple’s choice of India as a manufacturing hub is an excellent move, but the lacklustre performance of its suppliers on the renewable energy front is worrying,” he said. “Apple needs to ensure its Indian suppliers are on track to meet the 2030 100% renewable energy goal. This is eminently feasible given India’s vibrant renewable energy ecosystem, but it will require proactive engagement by Apple, its suppliers and local power distribution companies.”
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