Apple Special Event Keynote March 21, 2016 (Full Transcript)

Tim Cook

Here is the full transcript of Apple Special Event Keynote March 21, 2016 where the company unveiled an array of new products, including new 4-inch iPhone SE and a new 9.7-inch iPad Pro, at its headquarters in Cupertino, California.

Speakers:

Tim Cook – CEO, Apple Inc.

Lisa Jackson – VP, Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, Apple Inc.

Greg Joswiak – VP, Product Marketing, Apple Inc.

Phil Schiller – SVP, Worldwide Marketing, Apple Inc.

Tim Cook – CEO, Apple Inc.

Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Thank you so much for joining us. Welcome to our Town Hall on the Infinite Loop Campus.

Normally we don’t spend a lot of time looking back. But yes, we are about to celebrate Apple’s 40^th birthday on April 1.

That video lists some of the amazing products and epic moments in our history and reminds us just how many times Apple has changed the world. Recently, we passed a major milestone that no one could have ever imagined. There are now more than one billion Apple devices in use around the world. This is an incredible milestone for us and an indicator of how much impact Apple has on people around the world. Our products are such an important part of people’s daily lives and with that comes a significant responsibility.

So before we get started today, I’d like to address something that I know is on the minds of many people this morning. We built the iPhone for you, our customers. And we know that it is a deeply personal device. For many of us, the iPhone is an extension of ourselves.

About a month ago, we asked Americans across the country to join in a conversation. We need to decide as a nation how much power the government should have over our data and over our privacy. I’ve been humbled and deeply grateful for the outpouring of support that we’ve received from Americans across the country from all walks of life. We did not expect to be in this position, at odds with our own government. But we believe strongly that we have a responsibility to help you protect your data and protect your privacy. We owe it to our customers. And we owe it to our country. This is an issue that impacts all of us. And we will not shrink from this responsibility.

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Thank you, thank you.

Okay. So let’s get back to why you’re here this morning. Because so many people use our products every day, we understand that we have an opportunity and a responsibility to impact things for the better. So we want to get started this morning by talking about two initiatives where we are working hard to leave the world better than we found it. We’d like to start with the environment. And I’d like to invite Lisa Jackson up to tell you what we’re doing to preserve and protect the environment. Lisa?

Lisa Jackson – VP, Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, Apple Inc.

Thank you. Thanks so much. Well, you know, just like everything we do at Apple, when we think about the environment, we think about innovation. You see, we want to change the world for the better. And we think there’s no greater challenge in the world than our changing climate. Now the solution is energy efficiency and renewable energy and the time for action is right now.

So two years ago, we told you about our ambitious goal — one that we hope others will adopt. We told you that our goal was to be 100% renewable in 100% of our operations worldwide. That’s all of our offices, all of our retail stores and every single one of our data centers.

So two years later, how are we doing? Well, currently 93% of our facilities worldwide run on renewable energy. And just last year we reached our goal of using 100% renewable power to power our operations in the United States, as well as our offices and stores in China. In fact, we’re now 100% renewable in 23 countries around the world.

Now in some places we’re able to purchase renewable energy right from the grid from existing sources. But that’s not always possible, which has led us to some pretty innovative solutions. In Sichuan province, China we found a way to build a 40-megawatt solar farm without disturbing the local population. Yes! The innovation is in building a system that allows for electricity generation and hay production for the local yak ranchers. That solar project is producing more than enough electricity to power our 34 retail stores and our 19 offices in the country. That makes our facilities there carbon neutral.

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In Singapore where there’s not enough room to put solar panels on the ground, we looked up. Solar rays on more than 800 rooftops will cover the electricity use of our offices and our future stores. We’re really proud to be a 100% renewable in Singapore. We’re also really proud of the fact that 100% of our data centers are powered by clean sources of energy, like the sun, wind and water.

Think for a second about what that means. It means every time you send an iMessage or make a FaceTime video call or ask Siri a question, you can feel really good about reducing your impact on the environment.

Now let’s talk about another way that we are reducing our impact on the environment. And that’s by protecting forests that produce the paper we use, especially for our packaging. You see, we believe that paper like energy can be a renewable resource. So we’re proud to announce that today 99% of our packaging comes from paper that is recycled or is coming from sustainably managed forests. This is especially important as we continue our move to all paper packaging.

But we’re not stopping there. Through our partnership with the Conservation Fund, we’ve permanently preserved over 36,000 acres of working forests in Maine and North Carolina. And we’re partnering with World Wildlife Fund to improve the management of up to one million acres in China. You see, our goal is to add to the world’s supply of responsibly sourced paper rather than take from it.