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M4 Mac Mini is Apple's First Carbon Neutral Mac

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With the launch of the M4 Mac mini, Apple says it has reached a milestone in its overarching environmental goal of total carbon neutrality by 2030. The Mac mini is Apple's first carbon neutral Mac to date, and it joins the carbon neutral Series 10 Apple Watch models.

m4 mac mini carbon neutral
The ‌Mac mini‌ is made from more than 50 percent recycled content overall, including 100 percent recycled aluminum in its enclosure, 100 percent recycled gold plating in its circuit boards, and 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets.

Apple claims that the electricity that was used to manufacture the ‌Mac mini‌ is sourced from 100 percent renewable electricity, and the company says that its worldwide clean energy projects address 100 percent of the electricity that customers use to power their ‌Mac mini‌ devices.

Apple updated its shipping methods, and 50 percent of ‌Mac mini‌ computers by weight are shipped using non-air modes of transportation, like ocean freight, from the factory to their next destination. According to Apple, these changes have cut the carbon footprint of the Mac by more than 80 percent, and to make up the remaining emissions, Apple "applies high-quality carbon credits from nature based products" such as those from the Restore Fund. The Restore Fund uses funds from Apple and other companies to invest in carbon removal projects such as reforesting.

‌Mac mini‌ packaging is fiber based, which Apple says brings it closer to its goal of eliminating plastic from packaging by 2025.


Back in 2020, Apple announced that it was committing to being 100 percent carbon neutral across its entire supply chain by 2030, with net zero climate impact for every Apple product sold. Apple plans to reduce emissions by 75 percent compared with 2015, while using carbon removal solutions for the remaining 25 percent of its carbon footprint.

Apple's global corporate operations are already carbon neutral, and Apple has been making changes as it works toward hitting its 2030 goal.

Related Roundup: Mac mini
Tag: Apple Environment
Buyer's Guide: Mac Mini (Caution)
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Top Rated Comments

turbineseaplane Avatar
turbineseaplane
22 months ago
We would use even less carbon if we could internally upgrade the storage ourselves.
Score: 79 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BabyBoii Avatar
BabyBoii
22 months ago
does anyone actually care about this?
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WarmWinterHat Avatar
WarmWinterHat
22 months ago

does anyone actually care about this?
I appreciate it, but until we can upgrade and repair said devices ourselves, it’s mostly lip service.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
phuklok1 Avatar
phuklok1
22 months ago
this kind of marketing nonsense makes me angry. as a long time apple user why don't they actually do something for the environment like stop force obsoleting perfectly good equipment.

for example, i have a 1st gen ipad pro which i spent a ton on and it is still very fast in almost everything. At this point it is mostly used for just web browsing. it has tons more power than needed for this, but apple locks safari to the OS for no reason other than to screw over its customers. this means that since the device is stuck on ios 16, safari gets no updates and has an increasingly out of date webkit which fewer and fewer websites will work with. why? why put users at risk or create landfill with perfectly good equipment? i'm not even asking to update the entire OS, just stop locking basic apps to the OS.

help reduce e-waste and separate the browser from the os for crying out loud so it can be updated even if support of the device is stopped - you know like almost every other device out there! and backport this so the millions of devices out there can still be used for simple things (for which they have way than enough power to do)

instead we get things like no stickers, or whatever other nonsense the marketing department comes up with.

people have gotten used to treating computing devices as disposable items like a paper cup (and electronics do harm the environment, from mining, to water usage, e-waste disposal, toxic chemicals in manufacturing, etc). the idea of upgrade-ability to keep an item useful which used to be the norm is completely gone and apple sadly spearheaded this change (along with feature rationing).
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
videosoul Avatar
videosoul
22 months ago

does anyone actually care about this?
Yes, very much so.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
turbineseaplane Avatar
turbineseaplane
22 months ago

I appreciate it, but until we can upgrade and repair said devices ourselves, it’s mostly lip service.
Since they aren’t really doing much meaningful change on iPhones, how about they introduce a new design where the battery is the entire back and can quickly and easily come off and be swapped?

That’s the kind of environmental move and innovation I would readily applaud.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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