The latest Apple Watches are carbon neutral — if you choose the right watch band

The Apple Watch Series 10 can be entirely carbon neutral, Apple announced during its event this afternoon. The claim applies to all finishes of this year’s watch, as long as it’s paired with certain bands, Apple says.

The Series 10 case comes in aluminum and titanium options. Both versions are carbon neutral when purchased with a Sport Loop band, Braided Solo Loop, or the updated Milanese Loop, according to Apple.

To reduce emissions, the watch case is made with either 100 percent recycled aluminum or 95 percent recycled titanium. Apple says it makes enough renewable energy purchases to match the electricity used to manufacture the watch. The company also says it’s prioritizing “non-air shipping” to limit pollution from transportation.

Apple introduced its first-ever carbon-neutral products last year, “select case and band combinations of Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra 2, and Apple Watch SE.” Along with the announcement today, those watches are the company’s only carbon-neutral products so far.

A company can claim that something is “carbon neutral” if it offset any remaining CO2 emissions associated with making the product. With its first carbon neutral watches, Apple says it purchases “high-quality carbon credits from nature-based projects to offset the small amount of emissions remaining.” These kinds of so-called nature-based projects typically involve planting trees or restoring and conserving forests that naturally take in and store CO2.

Unfortunately, many carbon offset projects have a history of failing to reduce as much of that CO2 pollution as they claim. That makes it all the more important to prevent carbon dioxide emissions in the first place.

It’s also important to keep in mind that the key metric to watch out for is the company’s overall carbon footprint — not just that of any single product. Even if a brand designs a less polluting gadget, its overall carbon emissions could grow if it’s designing gadgets to quickly become obsolete. It might wind up making more gadgets and more carbon pollution than it would have if customers could hang on to their older products for longer, for instance.

Update, September 9th: This post has been updated with more information about carbon offset projects and which iterations of the watch are carbon neutral.