NEW DELHI: A new analysis has flagged sluggish progress on renewable energy (RE) use by Apple’s manufacturing partners in India, even as the country now assembles one in every five iPhones shipped globally.
The research report, Greening India’s Apple, released by think tank Climate Risk Horizons, found “limited progress” on RE adoption among 13 Apple suppliers operating in India. In FY24, India accounted for 20% of global iPhone assembly — a share expected to rise as Apple deepens its manufacturing footprint outside China.
Apple has committed to steep emissions cuts aligned with the 1.5°C pathway, including a 75% reduction in Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 2030 from a 2015 baseline. It has also mandated all suppliers and final assembly units to shift to 100% clean electricity by 2030.
However, the report notes that publicly available data shows uneven progress globally, with much of the claimed renewable energy use coming from low-impact instruments such as unbundled energy attribute certificates, which do little to displace coal-fired power.
In India, only two suppliers — FIH Mobile Ltd., a Foxconn subsidiary, and Flex Ltd. have procured renewable energy through “high-impact” pathways such as power purchase agreements (PPAs), self-built solar installations or bundled green electricity. FIH operated with 35% renewable energy in 2024, while Flex reported 27.5% RE use in both 2022 and 2023.
The remaining 11 suppliers either reported no renewable energy consumption, relied solely on low-impact energy certificates, or disclosed no RE data for their India operations.
“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 study. “This is a far cry from Apple’s goal of 100% RE use in its supply chain by 2030. Suppliers are also lagging in energy data monitoring and verification gaps that must be addressed to ensure credible Scope 3 emissions reporting.”
The report stresses that India’s fossil fuel-heavy grid will decarbonise only when new renewable capacity displaces marginal coal generation, and that high-impact procurement like PPAs plays a critical role in accelerating this shift.
The study reviewed the latest sustainability disclosures, climate commitments and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) filings of Apple and its India-based suppliers.