“Over the Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday, Apple quietly released a surprisingly detailed update to a report on its ‘environmental footprint,’ including plans to build the world’s largest private solar array and fuel-cell farm to power its massive new North Carolina data center,” Todd Woody writes for Forbes. “‘Apple is committed to pursuing energy-efficient growth by increasing our renewable energy participation to match the growing needs of our data center—through our own projects as well as partnerships with utilities and renewable energy providers,’ the company stated.”

Woody writes, “It’s quite a turnaround from Apple’s past public indifference to environmental concerns. Given the company’s other initiatives to slash its greenhouse gas emissions, Apple is emerging as a leader rather than a laggard on the environmental front.”

“Apple’s North Carolina facility has become the largest data center to achieve LEED Platinum status, the highest ranking for energy efficiency and other environmentally beneficial features bestowed by the U.S. Green Building Council,” Woody writes. “Back home in California, Apple disclosed that it has installed a 500-kilowatt biogas-powered fuel cell system at its Cupertino headquarters and purchased renewable energy for other facilities.”

Read more in the full article here.

More about Apple’s environmental footprint here.