Consumers have filed a lawsuit against Apple, alleging that the company’s assertion that three Apple Watch models — Series 9, SE, and Ultra 2 — are “carbon neutral” is deceptive and inaccurate. Seven buyers of these environmentally branded watches stated in a complaint lodged Wednesday in federal court in San Jose, California, that they either would not have purchased the watches or would have paid a lower price if they had been aware of the actual facts.
Reuters:
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.
They said much of the land in Kenya’s Chyulu Hills Project lies within a national park protected from deforestation since 1983, while land for China’s Guinan Project was heavily covered by trees even before the project began in 2015.
“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.”
MacDailyNews Take: “I will buy no smartwatch whose production feeds trees and plants” is an interesting purchasing criterion.
MacDailyNews Note: The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and an injunction blocking Apple from marketing the three Apple Watch models as “carbon neutral.”
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[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
