New lawsuit alleges Apple Watch carbon neutral claims are ‘false and misleading’ [U]

Apple has a big goal of making all its products carbon neutral by 2030. But the company is now being sued over claims that its first such product to hit that goal—Apple Watch—isn’t actually as carbon neutral as Apple says. Here’s what you should know about the new Apple Watch carbon neutral lawsuit.

Updated 2/28 11:45 a.m. ET to include Apple’s statement in response below.

Watch buyers believe they were misled by Apple’s carbon neutral claims

Jonathan Stempel writes at Reuters:

Apple has been sued by consumers who said its claim that three versions of Apple Watches are “carbon neutral” and environmentally friendly is false and misleading.

In a complaint filed on Wednesday in San Jose, California federal court, seven purchasers of the green-tagged Apple Watch Series 9, SE and Ultra 2 said they would not have bought their watches or would have paid less had they known the truth.

Apple…launched the watches in September 2023, saying they would be carbon neutral through a combination of lower emissions and purchases of carbon offsets.

But the plaintiffs–from California, Florida and Washington, D.C.–said two carbon offsetting projects on which Apple relied to meet its corporate emissions target did not provide “genuine” carbon reductions.

Two specific offsetting projects are named as not “genuine”:

1. Kenya’s Chyulu Hills Project
2. China’s Guinan Project

Plaintiffs argue that neither of these should actually qualify for providing carbon offsets to Apple:

“In both cases, the carbon reductions would have occurred regardless of Apple’s involvement or the projects’ existence,” the complaint said. “Because Apple’s carbon neutrality claims are predicated on the efficacy and legitimacy of these projects, Apple’s carbon neutrality claims are false and misleading.”

The lawsuit seeks damages from Apple and an injunction blocking Apple from using the term ‘carbon neutral’ in any of its product marketing.

Since the 2023 launch of the first carbon neutral Apple Watch models, Apple has also launched the M4 Mac mini as its first carbon neutral Mac, and also expanded the options for carbon neutral watches with the Apple Watch Series 10 line.

Update 2/28 11:45 a.m. ET: Apple has provided the following statement to 9to5Mac:

“We are proud of our carbon neutral products, which are the result of industry-leading innovation in clean energy and low-carbon design. We’ve drastically cut emissions for Apple Watch by over 75 percent, and we are investing significantly in nature-based projects to remove hundreds of thousands of metric tons of carbon from the air. That innovation and progress is important to us and to the planet, which is why we detail our work prominently and transparently for our users.”

What do you think of Apple’s new carbon neutral lawsuit? Let us know in the comments.

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