Apple agrees to pollution audit in China, report says

Apple will participate in a jointly monitored audit with the Institute of Public and Environment Affairs to look into the pollution controls at factories owned by an Apple supply partner in China.The Financial Times reported on Sunday that Apple appears to be taking more interest in addressing environmental concerns in its supply chain and has agreed to subject its partner--a maker of printed circuit boards--to an inspection of the latter's operations in the "next few weeks."Ma Jun, a director at the China-based institute, told the news agency that Apple's agreeing to the audit was representative of an attitude change within the organization. The change began last September after an institutereport showed pollution discharges were "expanding and spreading" in Apple's supply chain. "One Apple vice president said that transparency was needed, and I felt that was the moment they decided they wanted to change the way they were doing things," he said.Read more of "Report: Apple agrees to pollution audit" on ZDNet Asia.