Apple Mac mini (M4, 2024)

82.4

87.1

14

17

72.2

53.8

13

18

50

100

10

20

100

100

20

20

20

100

4

20

apple_fy2024_carbon_credits

Apple FY2024 carbon-credit claim check

Partially verified

Apple's 2025 Environmental Progress Report says it retired 737,100 tonnes of carbon credits for FY2024: 666,800 tonnes against corporate emissions and 70,300 tonnes against product life-cycle emissions.

The report's arithmetic reconciles internally. Public Verra retirement records contain exact project-and-vintage volumes matching the reported Chyulu Hills, Guinan and Apepu quantities, but the matching entries do not publicly name Apple as beneficiary. The reported 78,507-tonne Arbaro Forestal San Pedro figure does not cleanly reconcile to a corresponding public retirement total in the reviewed registry records. Apple links to project pages rather than specific retirement certificates or serial ranges.

The public trail does not fully establish Apple attribution for the matching project retirements or reconcile the Arbaro quantity. This check also does not establish that the credits are additional, durable or equivalent to avoiding the original emissions.

Apple corporate and selected product life-cycle emissions for FY2024; this is not a product-level finding for every iPhone.

2026-09-12

Read HTT's full Arbaro investigation

Plantation workers

Workers handling fumigation and other plantation operations in Paraguay

2021 fieldwork

Field research at Forestal Apepú reported 56 plantation workers, with ten assigned to daily fumigation. It describes the employment created by the plantation model as limited, temporary, precarious and potentially dangerous.

Direct fieldwork concerning Forestal Apepú and communities around Apepú and Forestal San Pedro in 2021; it does not establish every worker's exposure or current conditions.

Children & families

Children and families living around Paraguay's industrial plantation landscape

2021 fieldwork; HTT review checked 2026-09-12

Routine fumigation work and reported agrochemical pollution of water and soils create exposure risks for nearby families. HTT's Arbaro investigation also records documentary allegations about schools near spray zones and children's health that require project-level and medical verification.

Arbaro-area fieldwork establishes fumigation and reported water/soil pollution. The reviewed records do not establish medical causation for a named child or prove that every documentary allegation concerns the exact Apple-linked retirement.

Local communities

Peasant and Indigenous communities around Forestal Apepú and Forestal San Pedro

2021 fieldwork

Field interviews report land disputes, pressure to leave or sell land, community division, shrinking livelihood options and reduced food sovereignty as eucalyptus plantations occupy large areas.

Direct 2021 fieldwork with residents around the two Arbaro investments in Paraguay. Interview testimony is evidence of reported impact, not a court judgment covering every parcel.

Water, soil & wildlife

Water cycles, soils, native vegetation, insects, birds and other wildlife

2021 fieldwork; Arbaro reporting year 2023

Large eucalyptus monocultures are associated in the reviewed field report with hydrological stress, nutrient and soil damage, agrochemical pollution and sharply reduced biodiversity. Arbaro's own report confirms thousands of hectares of eucalyptus plantations in Apepú and San Pedro.

Project-area and regional plantation evidence. It does not mean every hectare has identical impacts, and Arbaro reports conservation areas and environmental-management measures that must also be considered.

Indigenous defenders

Qom land defenders and communities resisting eucalyptus plantations in Paraguay

Threats and assault documented in 2020–2021

Amnesty International documented the assault of Qom leader Bernarda Pesoa after she opposed eucalyptus-plantation work on community land where proper free, prior and informed consent had not been obtained.

Important Paraguayan eucalyptus-plantation context from HTT's investigation. This case concerns a Fundación Paraguaya project, not Forestal Apepú, Forestal San Pedro, Apple or an Apple carbon-credit retirement.

Climate & future generations

People and ecosystems bearing the consequences of emissions that carbon credits claim to neutralise

Apple FY2024 credit claim; checked 2026-09-12

If a forestry credit overstates additional carbon storage, or stored carbon is later lost through harvest, burning or fire, the original emissions remain in the atmosphere while the buyer reports them as offset. The reviewed public registry trail also does not fully reconcile Apple's reported Arbaro quantity.

A carbon-integrity risk and unresolved evidence gap, not a finding that every credited tonne has already failed or that all tree-planting projects are equivalent.

People

Artisanal miners, children and their families in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Cobalt extraction can involve hazardous, life-threatening work, child labour, unstable income and weak access to remedy.

Electronics-sector risk. It is not proof that cobalt in this exact device came from an abusive mine.

Mine-affected peoples

Workers, Indigenous peoples and communities across cobalt, copper, lithium, nickel, rare-earth and 3TG supply chains

Electronics mineral supply chains can carry intertwined risks involving labour rights, armed conflict, corruption, land, water, pollution and taxation. A recycled-content percentage does not by itself prove that the remaining primary material is harm-free.

Sector-wide critical-minerals risk covering more than cobalt. Exact attribution requires mine, processor, smelter and chain-of-custody evidence for the device.

Children & e-waste workers

Children, pregnant workers and families working or living near informal electronics recycling and dumpsites

Unsafe e-waste recycling can release lead, mercury, cadmium, flame retardants and other toxic substances. WHO links exposure with lifelong neurological, respiratory, reproductive and other health harms, and estimates millions of children and women may be at risk.

Global end-of-life sector evidence. It is not proof that this exact discarded device reached a named dumpsite; company take-back, repair and verified downstream recycling evidence is assessed separately.

Repairers & consumers

Device owners, lower-income households and independent repair businesses

Parts pairing, software locks, unavailable manuals or parts and repair-hostile design can raise costs, reduce choice and push working products toward replacement. The FTC found scant evidence for many broad manufacturer justifications for repair restrictions.

Sector and market evidence, especially mobile devices. The listing's repairability and parts evidence shows whether this product and manufacturer reduce or reproduce that harm.

Users & civil society

Users, journalists, activists, dissidents and communities disproportionately targeted by surveillance

Devices, platforms and private surveillance technologies can enable tracking, censorship, harassment and interference with privacy, expression, association and assembly when safeguards and accountability fail.

Technology-sector human-rights risk. A company is marked only where its policies, product conduct, contracts, enforcement records or documented use establish responsibility.

Civilians & targeted communities

Civilians, humanitarian workers and communities affected by military, intelligence, policing or occupation-linked technology

Drones, cloud services, communications, AI and surveillance systems can contribute to targeting, repression or denial of essential services. Those consequences must be shown alongside any documented corporate contract or deployment.

Sector-level pathway, not an allegation against every electronics brand. Company attribution requires evidence of a relevant contract, system, use or failure of human-rights due diligence.

Communities receiving waste

Communities and ecosystems where discarded electronics are dumped, burned or processed without adequate controls

The world generated 62 million tonnes of e-waste in 2022 and only 22.3% was documented as properly collected and recycled. Uncontrolled disposal can pollute air, soil, aquifers and drinking water while transferring health costs to communities with the least protection.

Global sector evidence. A brand's downstream responsibility depends on verified collection volumes, reuse, recycler standards and export or disposal records - not the existence of a take-back webpage alone.

workers_human_rights

Workers & human rights

Workers & human rights

20

Does the company prevent forced and child labour, protect worker voice and safety, and provide remedy when harm occurs?

resolved

52

10.4

KnowTheChain scored Apple 52/100 for action and disclosure on forced-labour risks. The scorecard also records supply-chain forced-labour allegations; a score is not a finding that the chain is abuse-free.

Company and global supply chain

2022

minerals_congo

Conflict minerals & Congo

Conflict minerals & Congo

20

Can the company trace high-risk minerals, show independent due diligence, improve conditions in the DRC, and remedy harm rather than merely avoid it?

resolved

50

10

Amnesty traced cobalt from hazardous DRC artisanal mining through processors toward battery makers reported to supply Apple and found that brands could not establish that their cobalt was free of child labour. Apple later led the reviewed companies on due-diligence improvement, but disclosure gaps remained. Current 3TG filings establish a system, not mine-to-device cobalt traceability, a named fatality link or proof of remedy.

Company due-diligence system; not physical traceability of this phone

2016 / 2017 / 2025 / 2026

not_established

privacy_digital_rights

Privacy & digital rights

Privacy & digital rights

20

Does the company protect privacy, freedom of expression and users from surveillance, censorship and abusive data practices?

resolved

44

8.8

The 2026 World Benchmarking Alliance Ranking Digital Rights assessment scores Apple 44/100 across governance, freedom of expression and privacy.

Company policies and practices

2026

corporate_accountability

Corporate conduct & accountability

Corporate conduct & accountability

20

Does the company act transparently on tax, lobbying, corruption, discrimination and misconduct; do its public claims reconcile with underlying records; and does it provide meaningful accountability and remedy?

resolved

39.8

7.96

The 2026 World Benchmarking Alliance Social Benchmark scores Apple 39.8/100 on fundamental expectations for human rights, decent work and ethical conduct.

Company-wide

2026