3 Minutes
Apple has quietly removed 'carbon neutral' labels from several of its latest products, including the Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3 and the M4 Mac mini. The change follows legal scrutiny in Europe and questions over the company's carbon-offset strategy.
Labels disappear after European legal pressure
French blog WatchGeneration (via MacRumors) first spotted the updates: product pages no longer call the new Watch models 'carbon neutral' and the M4 Mac mini lost its carbon-neutral tag after an update around Apple's September event. Apple pulled the wording from its German website soon after a German court ruled the claim misleading.
What Apple originally promised — and why it mattered
Apple had pitched some 2023 Watch models as its first 'carbon neutral' products in certain case-and-band configurations, backing the claim with a set of criteria:
- 100% clean electricity for manufacturing and product use;
- 30% recycled or renewable materials by weight;
- 50% of shipping by non-air transport;
- An overall estimated 75% reduction in product emissions, with the remainder offset using high-quality carbon credits.
Much of that offset plan relied on a tree-planting project in Paraguay intended to compensate for the final share of emissions.
Greenwashing charges and ecological concerns
Deutsche Umwelthilfe, a German environmental NGO, accused Apple of greenwashing. A court agreed, blocking Apple from advertising the Watch as carbon neutral. Ecologists also criticized the Paraguayan plan as a eucalyptus monoculture that could damage biodiversity. The court pointed out Apple had not secured long-term leases for most of the project land, casting doubt on its effectiveness.
Regulation, reputation and what comes next
Apple says it remains committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030, but an Apple spokesperson told Reuters the company will phase out the carbon-neutral label to comply with upcoming EU rules that limit claims tied to carbon credits or net-zero offset projects. For consumers and industry watchers, the episode highlights how regulated transparency and stronger oversight are reshaping corporate sustainability claims.
Watch this space: Apple will likely refine how it reports emissions reductions and offset work, and regulators will keep pressing for clearer, verifiable environmental claims.
Source: neowin
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