Greenpeace Warns Apple: AI Push Threatens Company's Climate Reputation

Greenpeace is warning Apple that its push into artificial intelligence could undermine the company's long-standing reputation as a tech industry leader on emissions reduction. The organization says how Apple handles the growing energy demands of AI-driven data centers will determine whether its climate commitments amount to more than marketing.

What the organization said

Greenpeace spokesperson Avex Li said plainly that artificial intelligence will become a test of Apple's climate pledges. The organization argues the company must show that growing AI use can be reconciled with its existing commitments through absolute emissions cuts, additional investment in renewable energy, and longer product lifespans.

AI will be the defining test of Apple's climate commitments - Avex Li, Greenpeace spokesperson

A decade of good marks now in question

Greenpeace has tracked Apple's environmental policy for a decade. Back in 2015, the organization praised the company for powering its data centers with renewable energy, and in its most recent ranking, Greenpeace East Asia gave Apple a B+ for developing renewable energy sources in its supply chain. That reputation, the organization says, is now at risk from the scale of infrastructure needed to run AI features.

Apple has long emphasized that it tries to handle as many tasks as possible directly on-device, without sending data to the cloud. But more complex features, including the upcoming, significantly more powerful Siri AI, require large data centers that consume substantial amounts of electricity and water.

An industry-wide problem

The warning to Apple fits into a broader alarm Greenpeace has raised about the energy costs of AI development across the entire tech industry. According to a 2025 Greenpeace Germany report, AI data centers' electricity demand could be as much as eleven times higher in 2030 than in 2023 if governments fail to intervene.

Greenpeace also points to the growing carbon footprint of manufacturing the chips that power AI models. Electricity consumption tied to producing AI chips rose by more than 350 percent between 2023 and 2024, and by the organization's estimates could increase as much as 170-fold by 2030 relative to 2023 levels, surpassing Ireland's total energy consumption. Key chip-producing regions still rely heavily on fossil fuels: 58.5 percent in South Korea, 68.6 percent in Japan, and as much as 83.1 percent in Taiwan.

What's next for Apple

In recent years Apple has touted its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions cuts relative to competitors and its shift toward renewable energy across its supply chain, but the company has not yet published detailed data on energy consumption tied specifically to AI features. Greenpeace says that information gap will be the test of the company's credibility in the coming months, as the new Siri AI reaches millions of devices.

For Polish businesses and users, the issue matters indirectly but concretely: rising energy demand from global tech giants to run AI is putting pressure on electricity prices and energy infrastructure investment in Europe too, including in Poland, where data centers already account for a growing share of national energy consumption.

For now, Greenpeace isn't calling for concrete sanctions against Apple, but for transparency and for the company to maintain its current pace of decarbonization despite the pressures of AI development. The next test will come with the publication of Apple's environmental report next year, which will show whether the company's pledges translate into hard numbers.