A quarter of all cobalt used in Apple products came from recycled material in 2022, up from 13% a year earlier, Apple said.
Most cobalt is produced as a by-product of copper or nickel mining, but artisanal miners in southern DRC exploit deposits near the surface that are rich in cobalt.
In the past, several tech companies have been accused of being complicit in the death of children in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) forced to mine cobalt, a critical material in the batteries used in most consumer electronics.
Magnets in Apple devices will use recycled rare earth elements, and in-house designed printed circuit boards will use recycled tin soldering and gold plating, the company said.
It now sources over two-thirds of all aluminum, nearly three-quarters of all rare earths, and more than 95% of all tungsten in its products from recycled material.
Apple is pushing to become carbon neutral through its entire supply chain and the life cycle of every product by 2030. On Tuesday, it also doubled its financial commitment to a fund it had established two years ago to invest in projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere.
On April 11, it also doubled its financial commitment to a fund it had established two years ago to invest in projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere.
