Apple turns green, claiming '100% clean energy'

The California tech giant said its retail stores, offices, data centers and co-located facilities in 43 countries were operating with nonpolluting or renewable energy.

Nine additional manufacturing partners have committed to power all of their Apple production with clean energy, bringing the total number of supplier commitments to 23.

"We're committed to leaving the world better than we found it," Apple chief executive Tim Cook said in a statement.

"After years of hard work, we're proud to have reached this significant milestone.

"We're going to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible with the materials in our products, the way we recycle them, our facilities and our work with suppliers to establish new creative and forward-looking sources of renewable energy because we know the future depends on it."

The news follows a similar announcement from Google, which claimed in December it had attained a goal of 100 percent renewable energy.

Apple said the company and its partners are building renewable energy projects around the world, including solar arrays and wind farms, as well as emerging technologies like biogas fuel cells, micro-hydro generation systems and energy storage technologies.

The company said it has 25 operational renewable energy projects around the world, totaling 626 megawatts of generation capacity.

It also has 15 more projects in construction. Once built, over 1.4 gigawatts of renewable energy generation will be spread across 11 countries.