Sustainability claims from big tech companies are easy to make and hard to verify. Apple, however, is arriving with numbers. The Neo effect is being felt globally, and for good reason. Apple’s latest, the MacBook Neo, is disrupting the laptop space by becoming a value option like no other — and it is not just the low starting price. Consider the laptop’s powerful A18 Pro chip that takes performance far beyond everyday tasks and web browsing. There is another side to the story, however. It has been designed from the ground up to be Apple’s lowest-carbon MacBook, which will help the company inch closer to its plan to be carbon neutral across its entire business by 2030. That target is one of the most sweeping commitments in the technology industry. Meeting it will require everything to go right, for years. And things are on track.

Here’s a device that features 60 per cent recycled content — the highest percentage of any Apple product. There is 90 per cent recycled aluminium overall and 100 per cent recycled cobalt in the battery. The enclosure has been made using a material-efficient forming process that uses 50 per cent less aluminium compared to traditional machining methods. Further, the Neo is manufactured with 45 per cent renewable electricity across the supply chain.

Compared to a product like the Chromebook, the Neo is far ahead in performance and sustainability. Apple’s approach to reducing emissions across the entire product lifecycle — from design to manufacturing to shipping — involves a focus on several biggest sources of product emissions: electricity, materials, and transportation.

The journey toward Apple 2030 has been years in the making, built on a clear-eyed focus on the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions. In its annual Environmental Progress Report released on Thursday, the company highlighted many important figures.

A new recycled content milestone has been reached — a record 30 per cent of material across all the company’s products shipped in 2025 came from recycled content.

“At Apple, we believe deeply in leaving the world better than we found it, and that commitment runs across everything we do,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “These milestones in our work to protect the planet show that ambitious goals can also be powerful engines of innovation. And as always, we’ll keep pushing to build on this progress even more.”

Additionally, the Cupertino-headquartered company reached several targets for recycled content in select components last year. For example, all batteries designed by Apple are now made with 100 per cent recycled cobalt, and all magnets are made with 100 per cent recycled rare earth elements, each representing more than 95 per cent of the company’s use of the two materials.

Goals have also been reached to use 100 per cent recycled gold plating and tin soldering in all Apple-designed printed circuit boards.

Packaging forms an important part of the Apple product experience. Records have been set here too — there is no plastic in packaging. Further, all Apple products now ship in 100 per cent fibre-based packaging.

The company has managed to avoid more than 15,000 metric tonnes of plastic in the past five years alone, the equivalent of about 500 million plastic water bottles.

That is enough bottles to fill more than 350 Olympic-sized swimming pools — kept out of landfills and oceans purely through changes to how Apple wraps its products.

Moreover, 100 per cent of the wood fibre in product packaging is recycled or comes from responsibly managed forests.

As part of Apple 2030, the aim is to reduce emissions across the entire value chain by 75 per cent compared to 2015, which is when the company’s emissions peaked. These are direct emissions reductions, with no use of carbon credits. Already, Apple has reduced its emissions by over 60 per cent since 2015, even as the business has grown by more than 75 per cent in that same period.

Achieving these goals was no easy feat. The first pillar involves using more and more recycled and renewable materials. The company is prioritising renewable and low-carbon materials, such as aluminium smelted with hydroelectricity.

Then comes the work under way to transition Apple’s entire supply chain to 100 per cent renewable electricity, while prioritising energy efficiency in manufacturing.

To address emissions from the electricity customers use to power their Apple products, the company is investing in renewable energy projects around the world as part of Apple 2030. Additionally, to reduce emissions from transporting products, Apple is shifting from air shipping to lower-carbon modes, such as ocean or rail.

Now, picture a facility where robots work around the clock to help the process. Daisy, operating in both Breda in the Netherlands and Austin in Texas, can disassemble 36 different iPhone models and process up to 1.2 million devices per year.

Also in the robot picture is Dave, which helps disassemble Taptic Engines to recover valuable rare earth magnets, tungsten, and steel. Taz uses shredder-like technology to separate magnets from audio modules, while the latest addition, Cora, brings precision shredding and advanced sensor technology to the Advanced Recovery Centre in California, achieving material recovery rates that leave industry baselines far behind. Together, they represent a recycling ecosystem with no real parallel in consumer technology.

A key ingredient in the recycling story is Apple’s trade-in and free recycling programme. All Apple products last for a very long time, and when you upgrade, it is best to hand the older device to a family member who needs it or to recycle it.

In 2025, Apple sent 15.6 million devices and accessories to new owners for reuse, extending their lifetime.

Further, as part of Apple’s Earth Day celebration, customers who recycle an eligible Apple product at their local participating Apple Store from now until May 16 can receive 10 per cent off Apple AirPods or accessories.

Built to last, designed to be fixed

All of this is being done without making any compromises to Apple products. Take the MacBook Neo as an example. The A18 Pro chip is power-efficient and the Neo is passively cooled. There are also fewer openings for liquid to get inside.

The feet at the bottom of the Neo ensure some clearance from tabletop spills. Shields built in beneath the trackpad and the keyboard also help prevent liquid from reaching the multi-layer board. The Neo also borrows a popular feature from the iPhone — it can detect if liquid has entered one of the two USB-C ports on the side. If it does, the system informs the user and automatically shuts down the ports to prevent corrosion.

Apple also extends longevity by designing products with repairability in mind. The Neo’s design makes repairs straightforward. The side-by-side layout of internal components allows easy access to the battery, speakers, trackpad, main logic board, and antenna as soon as the back cover is removed. With slightly more space between the components, there are more screws instead of adhesives in several places, including those securing the battery.

Apple’s sustainability ambitions stretch well beyond materials and recycling, extending to water conservation, zero waste, and renewable energy across its entire global operations.

The resale value of Apple products has held up over the decades because the company has always built things to last. The MacBook Neo is the clearest expression yet of what that philosophy looks like when it extends beyond the product itself — to the materials it is made from, the energy used to make it, and the life it can live after you are done with it. Apple 2030 is an ambitious target, and the road ahead is long. But every device handed in for recycling, every trade-in passed on to a new owner, is a small but real part of getting there.