[FINALIST] Maven Environmental Challenge (October 2023)

The Task...

As an independent journalist and data viz enthusiast, to use the data provided by Apple in their Environmental Progress Reports to visualize their progress towards becoming carbon neutral in 2030. Since I am assuming the role of a journalist and data viz enthusiast, I decided to stay away from the technical and analytical aspect of the matter and focus more on the message I am conveying with the visuals, thus – I presented the report as a non-technical article for a magazine, and I used:

• Gradients - from dark gray (associated with the early years) to light green (associated with the recent years) to signify the progress Apple is making towards carbon neutrality;
• The structure of the “article” - 4 sections that go from broad scope to narrower ones and then, finishing with a broad scope;
• Choice of visuals – went for the visual appeal & the message the visual conveys rather than the “correctness” of the visual.

The Data...

I complimented the provided data with some data from Apple’s 2023 Environmental Progress Report. Also, some of the text I used was directly from the report – I italicized those excerpts and denoted them with an asterisk (*) to distinguish those parts from my own writing/interpretation/summarization.

The Report...

I. Overview of the goal and forecast – presenting and discussing the “essence” of the topic – what is the goal & is the goal attainable?

Metric – CO2e emissions per $1M revenue – I decided to use this metric because it is something that puts the reduction in the carbon footprint in perspective, or how much earning a $1M costs in CO2e.

Visual – to visualize the actual vs. predicted values I used a bar chart instead of a line chart with confidence interval on the prediction, because it visualizes the trend in a more appealing way for a non-technical article.

II. Advancements & Potential – presenting and discussing the CO2e reduction over the years by emission type.

• Advancements Visual – bubble chart in a matrix format – used this visual because it allowed me to present the differences both across the types and over the years. Given the fact that the range of the CO2e emissions is very wide – the chart depicted the differences between the types a little better than the changes over time. That is why I added a “reference bubble” and the difference in % between the respective emissions in 2015 and 2022 for a better grasp.
• Potentials – used the information provided in the Apple Environmental Report to add some continuity without trying to make predictions as to how those emissions would change in the years to come because it really depends on the advancements in the technology, research, education, and training.

III. iPhone’s Carbon-Neutral Evolution – how Apple’s effort to reduce their carbon footprint impacted one of their products. This is the last level of granularity in the discussion, or how the goal translates into something very specific.

• Visual - for the comparison of the two apple products (iPhone X vs. iPhone 14) I used a circular format instead of a tabular format for comparison to signify Apple’s commitment to build products that are circular in design.

IV. Beyond the Quest for a Greener 2030 – in the final section of the article I used a map to add another dimension and have the final visual represent Apple’s global environmental and social efforts. I used the information from the “Increasing access to clean energy around the world” section of Apple’s 2023 Environmental Progress Report.