Apple does not know how to meet their environmental goals, so they have started planting trees crazy

The Big Tech are in the middle of a change. Not that of artificial intelligence –that too-but that of Achieve carbon neutrality. On this path to decarbonization with Objectives for 2030 and 2050Apple is one of the companies that have the most interest in users to know that they care about the environment.

In fact, in the presentation event of the iPhone 15 and of Apple Watch Series 9being one of the most important technological events of the year, the company shared a Fun video. In it, their mandamases met with the representation of the Earth to inform about their progress in reducing emissions, the installation of Solar panels in California and the increase in recycled materials on its devices.

But renewables are not enough to achieve those objectives, and Apple has made the decision to plant tens of thousands of trees. He is doing it in Brazil with the aim of reconverting grasslands in forests that catch carbon, but everything that shines is not gold.

A two times bigger forest than Manhattan

There is a trend among companies that we are seeing in recent years. To reduce carbon emissions, it is not enough to install more renewable, reduce the consumption in your data centers and optimize transport. In Fast Company We read that these actions are not enough to reach the objectives and that the secret is in the direct capture of CO₂ (and there are controversy about it about its effectiveness).

We are seeing how there are companies that are investigating the creation of buildings that capture carbon dioxide, but also experiments to discover What kind of trees They are the ones who catch the most. Apple ha reduced Emissions in 60% compared to 2015 and expect to reach 75% of a 2030. The problem is to exceed that figure and reach 100% in the face of 2050.

Chris Busch is the Director of Environmental Initiatives of Apple and comments that they do not have “a clear line of vision of how to avoid these broadcasts today.” It seems that they have reached a point where the use of renewables is not enough and you have to move on to a new approach. “And that’s where nature comes to play a role,” says Busch.

In 2021, Apple destination 200 million dollars to a fund to help in the creation of environmental and carbon elimination projects, something for which it promised additional 200 million dollars in 2023. During these last two years, different associations with the support of this member of the Big Tech have replanted more than 10,000 hectares in an area southwest of Brazil.

The idea is to reconvert areas for grazing and livestock in forests that not only recover trees to capture CO₂, but also the return of local fauna such as rabbits and pumas to an ecosystem that had been very damaged by other types of activities. It is an effort part of a major program that seeks to restore almost 300,000 hectares of degraded land in Brazil, Uruguay and Chile.

Apple is not only helping financially, but also at the technological level. And, obviously, this is not selfless. “What we intend is to generate financial performance as a investor in these projects,” says Busch. This yield will be in the form of lower payments for their CO₂ emissions and the manager also comments that the global objective is shared. “We have to reduce emissions as soon as possible, but also put an end to deforestation and increase carbon elimination to maintain within 1.5 degrees”He said.

And this is not just about planting trees. The Cupertino are technologically supporting project monitoring, such as the measurement of the trees’s trunk diameter, but they are not the only ones. Google, goal or Microsoft have also created coalitions To plant trees and compensate for their greenhouse gas emissions, and companies that are not within that select group also have reforestation initiatives.

It is not planting by planting

Now, you have to be careful with the type of trees that are planted in these reforestation programs. And with other factors. In Fast Company they point to a controversy in this concrete reforestation because they are planting eucalyptus. They are trees with potential to evolve in punished terrain, such as ancient animals for animals, and grow rapidly absorbing large amounts of co₂.

The problem is that reforestation reduces rainfall and eucalyptus, precisely, need water, so critics point out that these plantations will do will end underground water reserves. Also Questionable actions have been produced. In Pakistan, mass reforestation programs came into conflict with the practices of nomadic communities, something that has also occurred in places in China or Brazil itself.

We must not go so far: in Europe we are reforesting huge areas with trees that are suitable for that reforestation, but that They may not reach 2100. The reason? They are species that or are not native or, even if they are planting without taking into account possible future pests or the effects of climate change.

Research has also been carried out that the effectiveness of these projects is limited. As they comment on The Guardianmost of these projects do not generate real climatic benefits and there are areas that are being reforested in which there was no real risk of deforestation. The point by which some actions have been undertaken is due to the overestimation of the emissions avoided. And the study does not point to 10 or 20% of these reforestation actions, but 90% of them.

As much as it may be, planting trees is positive whenever it is done with the head, but as Forrest Fleishman, an expert in mass plantation of trees, rather than planting trees, must be made.

Images | Apple

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