Apple is being sued for making false and misleading statements about the Apple Watch Series 9, SE, and Ultra 2 being carbon neutral and environmentally responsible. The lawsuit, filed in a San Jose, California federal court, is that Apple made the claims falsely and falsely represented to consumers who made their purchasing decisions with sustainability in mind as a factor.
The seven California, Florida, and Washington, D.C., plaintiffs claim that they either would not have purchased the watches or would have paid less had they known the truth about Apple’s carbon neutrality claims. They claim that Apple’s reliance on carbon offset projects in the Chyulu Hills of Kenya and the Guinan Project in China did not result in real carbon emissions reductions. It further contends that since the areas that Apple had protected or were heavily forested before Apple’s involvement, the carbon offsets that Apple used were not successful.
These “green-tagged” Apple Watches were introduced in September 2023 and were advertised as part of Apple’s effort to become carbon neutral by 2030. However, the plaintiffs claim that Apple’s marketing deceived consumers into thinking they were making a sustainable purchase. A study by the National Retail Federation and IBM, incorporated in the lawsuit, revealed that 70% of consumers in the U.S. and Canada pay attention to environmental sustainability when making purchasing decisions.
The lawsuit requests unknown damages and an injunction to stop Apple from advertising these watches as carbon neutral. Apple, based in Cupertino, California, has not yet responded to the allegations. The case, Dib et al v. Apple Inc., is before the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, in San Jose, California, and the case number is 25-02043.
