14 DAY TRIAL // Today, May 11, tech giant Apple has announced a new partnership with environmental group the World Wildlife Fund. The goal of this collaboration is to help China do a better job manufacturing eco-friendly paper and protecting its forests.
Presently, China is the world's absolute largest consumer and producer of paper products. Apple and the World Wildlife Fund have no intention to mess with this status quo.
Instead, they want the country to better manage the forests within its borders and make paper using less land and water, and producing less pollution than it now does. Think of it as optimizing use of resources and doing away with wastefulness.
“The five-year project is an opportunity to position China as a country that uses less land, water and pollution to produce paper, while still meeting the high and growing demand for paper products,” the World Wildlife Fund explains.
Admittedly, China isn't a stranger to the idea of sustainable development. Still, it would seem that, at least when it comes to forest management, such initiatives are few and far between.
Well, leave it to Apple and the World Wildlife Fund to fix this problem. Thus, the company and the green group believe that, working together, they can help establish 1 million acres of responsibly managed working forests in China.
Saving forests isn't the only thing on Apple's to-do list
It just so happens that there's more on Apple's green-oriented working agenda than helping China protect its forests. In fact, the tech giant's decision to team up with the World Wildlife Fund for this project wasn't entirely selfless.
In a statement, the company says that it hopes to soon achieve a net-zero impact on the world's supply of sustainable virgin fiber. In other words, Apple is helping China in an attempt to improve on its own ecological footprint.
In addition to this, the company aims to eventually have its global operations powered by renewables. To this end, Apple recently struck a deal to help build two solar farms with a combined output of 80 million kilowatt-hours per year in China's Sichuan Province.
“Today 87% of Apple’s global operations run on renewable energy, and the Sichuan Province solar project will bring Apple even closer to its commitment to reach 100 percent,” the company explains.