Tech giant Apple announced Thursday that it would partner with Sealaska Corp. and other minority-owned companies for its Impact Accelerator program.

The program is designed to to help “Black-, Hispanic/Latinx-, and Indigenous-owned” businesses as they develop their own programs for protecting the environment, according to Apple.

“It’s a great opportunity to build on the experience and expertise we’ve built to date with our first two carbon projects,” said Sealaska CEO Anthony Mallott in a phone interview. “The first two were on the California regulated market. This third one is one a voluntary market.”

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Sealaska aims to increase the number of Indigenous-owned nature-based solutions across the continent, Mallott said, to push back against the increasing visible effects of climate change.

“It’s just one tool for addressing climate change, but we need every tool for addressing it,” Mallott said. “This is an opportunity to think of nature-based solutions, environment programs in a much bigger way.”

Project lead Mitchell Haldane, who heads up NBS projects for Sealaska, will attend the course, Mallott said.

“[Haldane is] in a precursor to the program. He’s already gotten some good value from it,” Mallott said. “This is meant to be able to not take you away from your full time job. He says it’s a lot of work but it’s worth it.”

Haldane and Sealaska were selected following a three-month application process, Mallott said.

“Sealaska has set out on a path of growth and development,” Haldane said in the news release. “We could not be more excited about the opportunity to be selected for Apple’s Impact Accelerator, and look forward to growing even further from this experience.”

Mallott said he hoped the experience Haldane and Sealaska gain from the program, which includes personnel from sixteen different companies across the country in this second iteration, can be shared out with Alaska Native organizations in the state and across North America.

“It all ties to our vision of ocean health, globally and for the region, and combating climate change with whatever tools,” Mallott said. “If we play a small part in combating climate change, we trust that it resonates. With everyone working together we may have a chance.”

Mallott said the heightened ties with Apple, which is a major player in the carbon credits market, can only stand to benefit Sealaska shareholders as Sealaska becomes more involved with NBS projects. Carbon credits are a way of saying that a company removed one ton of carbon from the atmosphere, a form of emissions trading.

“The fight to address climate change demands that we band together to develop innovative solutions while empowering and uplifting the communities we’re working to protect,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, in a news release.

Apple’s corporate operations have been carbon-neutral since 2020, according to Apple, with a stated goal of achieving carbon neutrality for its entire manufacturing supply chain by 2030.

“There’s been so much change in that market,” Mallott said. “We want to know it, understand it, research it as in depth as possible.”

The knowledge and experience gained from the Apple program will help Sealaska navigate towards a brighter future for the people it represents, Mallott said.

“We want to make sure we’re creating the environmental and financial outcomes that make sense for Sealaska and the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people we represent,” Mallott said. “This is a new and evolving market. It’s exciting to have a new avenue to build this experience.”

• Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at (757) 621-1197 or mlockett@juneauempire.com.