Today Apple is happy to welcome Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Murata Manufacturing as new investors in the Restore Fund, which aims to increase global investment in high-quality, nature-based carbon removal while safeguarding crucial ecosystems. The global semiconductor foundry TSMC plans to invest up to $50 million in a fund managed by Climate Asset Management, a joint venture of HSBC Asset Management and Pollination. Murata — an iPhone supplier based in Japan — intends to invest up to $30 million in the same fund. These new investments expand on Apple’s earlier commitment of up to $200 million for the Restore Fund’s second phase, bringing the total to $280 million in committed capital.
Apple also disclosed the partners in the Restore Fund’s initial phase, launched in 2021. Through these investments, Apple, Goldman Sachs, and Conservation International are collaborating with experienced forestry managers — Symbiosis, BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group, and Arbaro Advisors — to support the establishment of sustainably certified working forests on degraded pasture and agricultural lands in South America. Apple anticipates the portfolio to surpass its objective of removing 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the air by 2025.
“When businesses invest in nature, they’re also investing in healthier communities, a more resilient global economy, and a crucial tool in the battle against climate change,” stated Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives. “The Restore Fund is already delivering tangible benefits for communities and ecosystems in South America while eliminating carbon from the atmosphere. And we’re delighted to see suppliers join us by investing in nature on top of their urgent work to decarbonize their businesses.”
High-Quality Investments in Nature
To select the portfolio of projects in its first phase, the Restore Fund carefully evaluated potential managers and investments to ensure they meet rigorous environmental, social, and governance criteria, as well as strict standards for quality, scalability, and impact. The majority of potential investments are ruled out through this thorough due diligence process, which is further described in a recent white paper on Apple’s carbon removal strategy.
All projects chosen for the Restore Fund undergo regular assessments to monitor forest change and growth over time, address fire and other potential risks, and verify forest carbon stock. As part of this analysis, Apple and partners — including Space Intelligence and Upstream Tech — have utilized innovative tools such as LiDAR on iPhone, satellite data, bioacoustic monitoring, and machine learning to assess the wellbeing of the land and project progress.
The projects in the Restore Fund’s first phase all share a goal of establishing new, responsibly managed working forests to assist in meeting the growing global demand for timber and reducing pressure on natural forests. The projects will be overseen by:
- Arbaro AdvisorsThe company is creating a collection of forestry projects in Latin America, including Apple’s initial Restore Fund project in Paraguay. The goal is to develop eucalyptus farms that are managed sustainably, while also improving job opportunities for local communities and safeguarding natural ecosystems in the project area.
- BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group, which is working to restore and protect natural ecosystems on half of the project area while planting the other half with commercial species, like eucalyptus.
- Symbiosis, which is developing native seedlings to grow working forests of native tropical hardwoods while protecting natural forests in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest.
These managers will ensure all projects meet the Restore Fund’s rigorous standards.
Progress to Carbon Neutrality
TSMC and Murata are among the more than 300 suppliers in Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy Program, having committed to achieving 100 percent renewable electricity for all Apple production by 2030. In 2022, Apple called on its suppliers to go even further and decarbonize all of their Apple-related operations by the end of this decade. This includes addressing unavoidable residual emissions with high-quality carbon removal.
The fund TSMC and Murata are investing in alongside Apple will pool regenerative agriculture projects with ecosystem conservation and restoration projects in order to generate both carbon and financial benefits. Project selection is currently underway.
The Restore Fund is an important component of Apple 2030, the company’s ambitious goal to be carbon neutral across its entire value chain by the end of this decade. Apple is laser-focused on driving down its carbon footprint by 75 percent from 2015 levels through direct emissions reductions and will address residual emissions with high-quality carbon removal. The company only retires credits from carbon projects where verified removal has already occurred, and only uses credits to address residual emissions that are difficult to avoid or abate with today’s available solutions.
