April 17, 2023

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Apple is doubling down on its commitment to nature-based carbon removal by significantly expanding its Restore Fund. 

Originally launched by Apple in 2021 with $200 million in capital backing, the Restore Fund was created to invest in timber producing commercial forestry projects with the goal of removing carbon from the atmosphere while gaining returns for investors. 

Together with Conservation International and managed by Goldman Sachs, the fund aligns with Apple’s overarching goal of becoming carbon neutral across its entire value chain by 2030. As such, through this fund, Apple intends to remove at least 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide – or the equivalent of the amount of fuel used by more than 200,000 passenger cars – from the atmosphere per year while also fostering a viable financial model with the power to drive a scaling up of forestry investment.

“Through creating a fund that generates both a financial return as well as real, and measurable carbon impacts, we aim to drive broader change in the future — encouraging investment in carbon removal around the globe,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, at the time. 

As part of its expansion strategy, Apple is opening an additional fund that will be managed by Climate Asset Management – a joint venture launched in 2020 between Pollination Group Holdings Limited, an Australian specialist climate change advisory and investment firm, and HSBC Global Asset Management Limited, with the goal of creating the largest natural capital manager in the world, and the first large-scale venture to mainstream natural capital as an asset class. 

GAI News had the privilege to speak with Martijn Wilder, co-founding partner of Pollination, upon the launch of the venture to gain insight into its vision for its funds, and the natural capital investment space. 

Wilder explained, “The partnership brings together Pollination, which is a new specialist firm in climate change and investment advisory firm with a lot of people in that business that have a deep, deep expertise in the space – 20-plus years in this area, with HSBC, who are a global asset manager with a lot of funds under management all over the world.”

At its peak, the new portfolio is aiming to remove 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere per year, while also generating healthy returns for investors and for Apple suppliers, becoming a channel through which they can incorporate high-impact carbon removal projects as they decarbonize. 

“The Restore Fund is an innovative investment approach that generates real, measurable benefits for the planet, while aiming to generate a financial return,” said Jackson. “The path to a carbon neutral economy requires deep decarbonization paired with responsible carbon removal, and innovation like this can help accelerate the pace of progress.”

As for specific projects, Apple and Climate Asset Management stated they are taking a broad approach, pooling two distinct types of investments: nature-forward agricultural projects that generate income from sustainably managed farming practices; and projects that conserve and restore critical ecosystems that remove and store carbon from the atmosphere. The ultimate goal of this blended structure is to achieve both financial and climate benefits while advancing a new model for climate removal. 

Although its corporate operations are already carbon neutral, the Restore Fund is part of the company’s comprehensive strategy for its entire supply chain and life cycle of every product becoming carbon neutral by 2030. 

A call-to-action went out last year to its suppliers outlining this goal for all Apple-related operations, including all of their direct and electricity-related emissions, known as Scope 1 and Scope 2. 

Suppliers are initially expected to reduce emissions by transitioning to renewable energy, improving energy efficiency, and abating direct emissions. Any direct emissions that cannot be avoided or reduced can then be offset through high-quality carbon removal.

Apple’s three initial investments through its first Restore Fund in partnership with Conservation International and Goldman Sachs are located in Brazil and Paraguay, where the aim is to restore 150,000 acres of sustainably certified working forests to project an additional 100,000 acres of native forests, grasslands, and wetlands. 

To accurately monitor and quantify the impact of the Restore Fund projects, Apple is deploying remote sensor technologies to construct habitat and forest carbon maps of the project areas which will help ensure the projects meet standards established prior to investment and will quantify and verify the projects’ carbon removal impact over time. The company also is considering the use of LiDAR Scanner on the iPhone platform to enhance monitoring capabilities on the ground. 

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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