Apple to undergo joint environmental audit at Chinese supplier this month

In February Apple announced that it would be working with the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) to perform joint environmental audits on its Chinese suppliers, and now we know one of those that is set to take place very soon. MacWorld is reporting that the IPE will begin its first audit at the end of April, in which it will investigate one of Apple’s printed circuit board suppliers. Also in February it was revealed that at least two facilities would be audited, but only the one inspection has been announced thus far.

However, the IPE says that it hopes this won’t be a one-off event, with vice director Wang Jing Jing explaining, “we hope this won’t simply be a pilot project, but that more open inspections will continue.” The IPE has been highly critical of Apple in the past, and last year released two reports claiming that the pollution from Apple’s Chinese suppliers had “caused severe damage to the environment.” Among those suppliers accused of environmental violations is Foxconn, which has also been linked with unfair and unsafe working conditions in China.