By Mike Robuck
Apple will purchase its first industrial-sized batch of carbon-free aluminium to use for its iPhone SE handset as part of an effort to reduce carbon emissions from the metal in its smartphone casings.
The aluminium is claimed to be the first to be manufactured at industrial scale outside of a laboratory without creating any direct carbon emissions during the smelting process.
Elysis, a Montreal-based joint venture between Alcoa Corp and Rio Tinto, used hydropower to produce the aluminium at its Industrial Research and Development Centre in Quebec. Instead of producing greenhouse gases, the new process produces oxygen.
In 2018, Apple helped spur the advancement in aluminium production through an investment partnership with Alcoa, Rio Tinto, and the governments of Canada and Quebec. The following year, Apple used the first batch of the aluminium in the production of its 16-inch MacBook Pro.
Apple didn’t provide any details on the amount or cost of the aluminium it purchased.
