A recent report (http://www.ipe.org.cn/Upload/Report-IT-V-Apple-II.pdf, published August 31, 2011) questions whether decisions made by Apple’s suppliers continue to have a negative environmental impact.  The report identifies suppliers who release hazardous chemicals into the river or environment, the speed of ramp up (76 days to set up a plant to make Ipad2’s) and associated construction disasters, short training times of 2 to 3 days, explosions at the Ipad2 plant that claimed lives etc.  The report suggests that Appel’s attempts to audit suppliers do not seem to reveal the kind of violations that this report found.  A key claim int he report is that Apple has changed its reported role in monitoring its supply chain by shifting from the word “ensure’ to the word “require” in its decription of appropriate environmental stewardship by its suppliers. Should Apple be held responsible for actions by all suppliers across its entire supply chain ? Should the local Chinese auhtorities be responsible for monitoring compliance to their laws or should Apple be responsible for such compliance ? Should speed of ramp up be considered a proxy for risk of environmental endangerment ?