Apple was sued over claims that certain Apple Watch configurations were carbon neutral, but the court did not rule that Apple’s carbon offsets were invalid. On February 20, 2026, a federal judge dismissed the plaintiffs’ first amended complaint with leave to amend, finding its allegations insufficiently supported at the pleading stage. The order made no finding about the accuracy of the offset projects or calculations.
What the lawsuit is about
In Dib v. Apple Inc., plaintiffs challenged two kinds of statements: Apple’s claim that it had been carbon neutral for its corporate emissions since 2020, and claims that certain Apple Watch configurations were carbon neutral. They alleged that the claims were misleading because they relied on carbon credits the plaintiffs considered flawed or inadequate. They also alleged that Apple had not retired enough credits to offset all carbon-neutral watches sold in 2024. These are allegations, not findings by the court. The court’s summary of the claims
The product claims at issue concerned specified configurations of Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra 2, and Apple Watch SE (2nd Generation). The named plaintiffs said they bought one of those watches between December 2023 and December 2024 after seeing Apple’s claims. The case was not about every Apple Watch model or configuration.
Why the judge dismissed the complaint
On February 20, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed the first amended complaint with leave to amend. The order said the plaintiffs had not plausibly alleged that Apple’s carbon-neutral claims were false. The February 20, 2026 order
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Challenge to offset projects
The complaint used spatial-overlay analysis of public satellite data to challenge offset projects. The court noted that the complaint did not attribute those analyses to a scientist, expert, or scientific organization. That was part of the court’s assessment of the support for the allegations as pleaded; it was not a determination that the projects were sound.
Alleged shortfall in retired credits
The plaintiffs’ separate theory that Apple had not retired enough credits relied, according to the order, on unverified reporting and assumptions. The court also described an allegation that Apple retired more than a million credits across projects from 2022 to 2024; that figure was not a verified finding.
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What the court did—and did not—decide
The dismissal was about whether the complaint adequately supported its claims at that stage. The order expressly made no findings about the accuracy of Verra’s administration of offset projects or its calculation of offsets. It therefore did not validate Apple’s credits, establish that Apple’s environmental statements were true, or prove the plaintiffs’ allegations.
What Apple said made the watches carbon neutral
In a September 12, 2023 announcement, Apple said its carbon-neutral configurations included aluminum Apple Watch Series 9 and SE models paired with a new Sport Loop, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 paired with a new Trail Loop or Alpine Loop. Apple described an approach that reduces emissions through clean electricity, materials, and lower-carbon shipping before applying credits to residual emissions. Apple’s September 12, 2023 announcement
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Apple’s model-specific Series 9 Product Environmental Report gives figures for an evaluated aluminum Series 9 paired with Sport Loop. The figures below are Apple’s reported values for that configuration and its stated methodology, not findings in the lawsuit or an independent assessment by the court. Apple Watch Series 9 Product Environmental Report
| Series 9 aluminum with Sport Loop | Apple-reported figure (2023) |
|---|---|
| Baseline emissions | 36.7 kg |
| Emissions reductions | 28.6 kg |
| Total product emissions remaining | 8.1 kg |
| Emissions offset by credits | 8.1 kg |
| Net emissions | 0 kg |
| Reduction against baseline | 78% |
Apple says it retires credits after each fiscal year to correspond to the residual emissions associated with the previous fiscal year’s total product sales, and that an independent third party confirms the number retired. This describes Apple’s accounting process; the court did not rule on its accuracy. Apple’s explanation of credit retirement
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Where the case stood after dismissal
A litigation record says plaintiffs filed a notice on March 5, 2026, stating they did not intend to amend the complaint and requesting entry of final judgment. That notice is a request, not proof that the court entered judgment; the available record does not establish whether a later judgment was entered. Case-document record for the March 5 notice
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