To mark Apple’s 40 years in Australia, the company today announced new initiatives that will help protect the environment and create opportunity in communities across the country. Projects include developing new sources of renewable energy, expanding coding education programs, and forging partnerships with indigenous-led nonprofits advancing equity and opportunity.
“We’re proud to celebrate Apple’s long history in Australia, and to deepen our shared commitment to protecting the planet and creating opportunity in people’s lives,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, in a statment. “We’re fortunate to have so many great partners, colleagues, and customers across this country, and we’ll continue working together to make the world a more equitable and just place for all.”
New Renewable Energy Project Accelerates Apple’s Progress to Its 2030 Climate Goal
With the purchase of clean energy from a new wind farm in Queensland, Apple will help address the energy customers use to power and enjoy their Apple products. Already carbon neutral across all of the company’s global facilities and operations, this innovative project is part of Apple’s ambitious goal to become carbon neutral across its entire business, manufacturing supply chain, and product life cycle by 2030.
“At Apple, we recognise the urgent need to address the climate crisis, and we’re accelerating our global work to ensure our products have a net-zero climate footprint across their entire life cycle,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, in a statement. “We are proud to play a part in Australia’s transition to a cleaner energy grid, and thrilled that Apple will soon support Australian customers’ use of their favorite products with clean energy.”
The Upper Burdekin Wind Farm is located on pastoral land in Gugu Badhun country and will begin operations in 2026. Apple’s investment in clean energy from this site will support the country’s transition to renewables, and provide the equivalent energy to power 80,000 homes.
The Queensland wind farm is Apple’s second project designed specifically to address the electricity customers use to charge their Apple devices. In April, Apple announced a 2,300-acre solar project in Brown County, Texas, which will generate 300 megawatts of electricity once completed later this year. These projects are in addition to the more than 10 gigawatts of clean energy currently operational throughout Apple’s supply chain, part of the company’s work with suppliers to achieve its 2030 climate goal.
New Coding Opportunities for the Growing iOS App Economy
Today, Apple also announced an expanded partnership with leading Australian universities — RMIT University in Melbourne and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) — that will bring coding education to even more students across the country.
Apple’s coding resources and training programs help to bring coding skills to learners throughout Australia, preparing students for careers in the app economy. In 2017, Apple teamed up with RMIT Online to launch courses using Apple’s Develop in Swift curriculum, which teaches students to use Apple’s powerful and intuitive Swift coding language to design and build their own apps. Since then, universities, schools, and colleges — including Curtin University and TAFE Queensland — have expanded their offerings in app development and coding with Swift.
To expand coding opportunities to even more learners, Apple, in collaboration with RMIT and UTS, is launching two new Apple Foundation Programs that will provide four-week courses on the fundamentals of app development with Swift. In the period of one month, students will gain the skills to design and prototype their own apps and learn introductory coding skills. Both programs will open for enrolment later this year, with courses beginning in early 2023.
“UTS is excited to work with Apple to deliver engaging learning experiences that build skills to empower and enable future digital professionals,” said Andrew Parfitt, UTS’s vice-chancellor and president, in a statement. “It’s imperative that learners of all ages and backgrounds are equipped with coding skills as part of their broader education at school and later in life. Coding is as crucial a tool as literacy and maths; it encourages critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity. We know that these are skills valued by employers and are in high demand in today’s workforce, no matter the job or career.”
“RMIT is proud to launch the Apple Foundation program in 2023. We believe this program will have a significant impact in supporting Australia’s innovation economy and its fast-growing technology sector by encouraging more learners to acquire in-demand coding and iOS app development skills and knowledge,” said Calum Drummond AO, RMIT’s professor, deputy vice-chancellor Research and Innovation and vice-president, interim deputy vice-chancellor STEM College, in a statement.
Around the world, the iOS app economy supports millions of jobs for coders, creators, engineers, designers, and more. In Australia, the App Store supports nearly 160,000 app economy jobs across the country, a figure that continues to grow.
“Innovation and creativity define the Australian developer community, and we’re incredibly proud to expand the pathways into the thriving iOS app economy through our App Developer Foundation programs with RMIT and UTS,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations and Enterprise and Education Marketing, in a statement. “At Apple, we view coding as a universal language that empowers people with the tools to create, communicate, and problem-solve in entirely new ways, and we’re excited to see what the next generation of developers deliver.”
Supporting Australia’s Indigenous Community
Apple’s new commitments will also expand the company’s Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI) to Australia, funding initiatives and community nonprofits serving indigenous communities.
REJI is Apple’s companywide effort to address systemic racism and expand opportunities for communities of colour, focused on advancing racial equity in education, the economy, and the criminal justice system. As part of this work, Apple has launched an Impact Accelerator to support equity and opportunity in the environmental sector, provided venture capital funding for entrepreneurs of color, supported nonprofits advocating for criminal and environmental justice, and more.
“We all have a part to play when it comes to creating a more equitable world,” said Alisha Johnson, Apple’s director of REJI, in a statement. “Extending the company’s Racial Equity and Justice Initiative to Australia is part of a long-term commitment from Apple to help support Australia’s indigenous community by collaborating with organisations driving meaningful change.”
Apple’s initial funding grants will support organisations advancing equity through education, economic empowerment, and criminal justice reform, including:
• Deadly Connections: an indigenous-led organization that aims to directly address the involvement of First Nations people, families, and communities in the child protection and justice systems.
• ID. Know Yourself: an indigenous-led organization that supports indigenous children living in the out-of-home care system who have been impacted by cultural dispossession, systematic disadvantage, and complex trauma.
• First Australians Capital: a national indigenous-led organization that builds investment readiness and designs the right capital solutions for indigenous businesses to thrive.
• Art Gallery of NSW: the gallery’s Djamu Youth Justice Program supports indigenous young people in the New South Wales Youth Justice System through creating meaningful connections to art and culture, and provides ongoing opportunities to learn about vocational pathways in the visual arts sector.
• Original Power: an indigenous-led organization that is the key initiator of the First Nations Clean Energy Network, and has launched community-led renewable energy projects in the Northern Territory and beyond to help overcome the structural barriers locking indigenous communities out of the benefits of lower cost, clean energy.
These grants complement Apple’s ongoing education partnerships in North East Arnhem Land and Western Australia, where education specialists are helping schools use iPad to preserve traditional teaching techniques, celebrate creativity, art, music, and maintain indigenous languages.
Apple acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, culture, and community. We pay our respects to Elders both past and present and acknowledge the next generation of Traditional Custodians.
Source: Apple Inc.
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Aaargh: ESG, DEI and woke stuff. Wearying state-ist numb-skullery.
Apple marking 40 years in Australia (Apple hype) would be since 1984.The article does not define specifically what that means , so assuming yeah, we sold the original Macintosh down under, too.
Apple: “goal to become carbon neutral across its entire business, manufacturing supply chain, and product life cycle by 2030.”
“China is Currently Building Over Half of The World’s New Coal-based Power Plants. In 2021, China began building 33 gigawatts of coal-based power generation, according to the Helsinki-based Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). Jun 28, 2022” Apple manufacturing, partners and stores are going to convince President Xi of the CCP to be carbon free. Green Dream? ’ll believe it when I see it.
“Australia is part of a long-term commitment from Apple to help support Australia’s indigenous community by collaborating with organisations [Spelling Apple] driving meaningful change.”
United Nations Factsheet: “It is estimated that there are more than 370 million Indigenous people spread across 70 countries worldwide. Practicing unique traditions, they retain social, cultural, economic, and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live.” Translation: Minority.
Apple you have 69 countries to go, China most likely not on your list. Being of Slavic descent my ancestors’ many cultural characteristics, are they not Indigenous people unless they are a minority? What if a Slovakian moves to the USA — do they lose their Indigenous-inity stepping off the boat, or only applies when living in Slovakia? Lastly, children of relocated parents born in USA are they non-indigenous, keep or lose their Slovakian heritage, or native to country of birth?
Closest answer found: “You’re native to the country where you were born, and places have native plants and animals too. Things that are native are Indigenous — they were born there.” However, seems the United Nations and Apple believe this to be true only if you are a minority. SJW Apple and woke United Nations need to think this through.
Article: “Deadly Connections: an indigenous-led organization that aims to directly address the involvement of First Nations people, families, and communities in the child protection and justice systems. “First Nations people” …Apple, huh?
Final topic: Apple’s “Racial Equity and Justice” page [Link] reads like a template for Affirmative Action. Judging by appearance not one photo of a white person, this exclusion sends the wrong message. Unless you are an extreme racist lunatic, no one disagrees with the goal — just the SELECTIVE methods. BTW media, Dim Dems and extreme leftists, racists come in ALL colors.
VOLUME of liberal woke garbage. ALL individuals deserve equal equity and justice. Excluding or including this one or that one is racist — these practices need to DISAPPEAR FOREVER. If we could all heed the teachings of the great Dr. Martin Luther King, where NO ONE is judged by the color of their skin…
GuttersnnipeTrashGoeB™️ offers up some word salad scattergun nonsense…again.
Then, since you are offended by policies and organizations that protect “minority” interests, inclusion and cultural heritage, you must be outraged by-
The militant anti-abortionists waging war on women’s reproductive rights and healthcare. A minority.
The ‘Protect the 2nd Amendment’ at all costs ‘ ‘guns everywhere’ anti-sensible gun legislation proposals’ brigade. A minority.
The 0.5% of climate scientists who believe that anthropogenic (man-made) climate change is a hoax. A minority.
The J6 insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol believing they had a right to overthrow the election choice of the popular vote and official Electoral College count. A minority.
Those that think Trump is a genius and sent by God.to stamp out Democrat swamp dwelling pedophile lizards living in a non-existent pizza basement. A minority.
I have. 65 year old Bonsai cherry tree less bent out of shape. smh
Thanks for a breath of sanity on their increasingly unhinged (and increasingly political) site.
“Thanks for a breath of sanity”
So says another leftist LIAR who regularly sows disinformation in posted opinions minus credible attribution.
“…on their increasingly unhinged (and increasingly political) site.”
Ohhh right, like you are not unhinged at times. Have to laugh, @WriterGuy complains about “political” and the only time he writes, ALL POSTS political. 🙄🤔😂
People who can’t write or read properly is all that’s LEFT, yup, another waste of time …
For nearly a decade MDN has served up a pro Trump anti Obama/Biden fare cheering on every Trump twitter rant or policy fart. Now he’s out, toothless, bitter and intent on revenge, likely to be indicted on multiple counts through multiple court cases – they never mention those!, his cabal of followers here are reduced to invective, projection, Olympic grade dissembling and….INCESSANT MOANING!!!
Joyful days.
MDN serves up stories related to Apple and tech in general and on occasions involves a political element on both sides. To say or infer they are pushing a Pro-Trump agenda is false. Conflated from the conservative postings I presume that are censored on most tech sites like Facebook, Twitter and the rest. Good for them important to hear all sides. Post reads like you are on the gloating left at this time and enjoy. You won’t be laughing come November.
GuttersnnipeTrashGoeB™️
Typical of a Liberal LIAR, after a SEARCH of the federal trademark database – no such trademark recorded! This is how the LYING LEFTISTS ply their DISINFORMATION trade daily, all over the internet and sadly, around here as well.
“Then, since you are offended by policies and organizations that protect “minority” interests” Obviously you have a SERIOUS reading comprehension PROBLEM. My post clearly SUPPORTS minority rights and the rights of every human being on Planet Earth.
Heed the good words and teachings of Pastor Martin Luther King Jr. of the “Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, the only church where MLK pastored and the site where he began his Civil Rights activism” and do not be fooled by GotNOTHING.
As to the rest of the lies and mischaracterizations in your post, I already wasted too much time on an idiot…
“GuttersnnipeTrashGoeB™️
Typical of a Liberal LIAR, after a SEARCH of the federal trademark database – no such trademark recorded! This is how the LYING LEFTISTS ply their DISINFORMATION trade daily, all over the internet and sadly, around here as well.“
Laughing ALL you got? Yes of course, empty head like the rest of your ilk…🤣🤣🤣🤣