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Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tech billionaire branded a hypocrite after spending $80 million on private jet: 'A deep internal conflict'
Atlassian co-founder and billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes is in the middle of a controversy concerning a recent purchase that contrasts sharply with his climate advocacy: a private jet. As reported, the minority stakeholder in the Utah Jazz bought a Bombardier 7500 capable of carrying up to 19 passengers and said he has "a deep internal conflict" about it. He cited personal security, running a global business from Australia, and fatherhood in a LinkedIn post as reasons for using the carbon-heavy mode of transport. Why is it an issue when many other billionaires utilize large vessels such as private jets and yachts? For one, the amount of polluting gases regular private jet travel produces goes against Cannon-Brookes' stance on environmental issues. He has been an active climate campaigner and is a key investor in SunCable's giant Australia-Asia PowerLink — a project to transport energy from solar farms in the Northern Territory to Singapore. Per the Financial Post, his investment firm, Grok Ventures, attempted a 2022 takeover of Australia's AGL Energy to help the country transition from coal to more sustainable energy. The Financial Review reported that his influence and shares in the company encouraged AGL to close the country's biggest coal plant a decade ahead of schedule. Carbon gases not only cause air pollution but are a major factor in the overheating planet and the unpredictable weather patterns that come with it. While these jets make up only a fraction of those gases — almost 2% of the industry's overall pollution — the figure is steadily increasing. The journal Communications Earth & Environment published a study in 2024 that said the polluting gases from private jets had increased by 46% over the past five years. Some effort is being made to mitigate a portion of those toxins. VistaJet, a leader in private business aviation, is using biogenic sustainable aviation fuel created from used cooking oil. Others, including Flexjet, also use carbon offset programs — projects that reduce or remove pollution elsewhere to compensate for what flights produce. How or if Cannon-Brookes will offset his private travel remains to be seen. Based on carbon footprint, a greener option may have been the low fuel-consuming Pilatus PC-12, a single-engine jet that's 10 times less polluting than a Bombardier Global 6000, per Aeroaffaires. At least the Bombardier 7500 has its pros, as "approximately 85% of the materials used are recoverable," according to Runway Girl Network. Do you think billionaires spend their money wisely? Definitely No way Some do Most do Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Japan Times
21-03-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Billionaire's private jet angst won't save the world
Mike Cannon-Brookes — co-founder and chief executive officer of enterprise software business Atlassian and Australia's fifth-richest person with a $13.2 billion fortune — is suffering a "deep internal conflict' about taking on the trappings of the billionaire lifestyle. In a posting on LinkedIn recently, he poured out his heart about reconciling his convictions as a climate activist with his actions as a tech boss — in particular, Atlassian's decision to sponsor a Formula One team and his purchase of a Bombardier 7500 private jet. "There's a couple of reasons I've purchased a plane,' he sighed. "Personal security is the primary reason (an unfortunate reality of my world), but also so I can run a global business from Australia and still be a constantly present dad.' As a fellow fortysomething Australian dad, I can sympathize a bit. I'd like to reduce my carbon footprint by getting my own electric car, instead of the battered 2008 Toyota Prius I share with my ex-wife. But money doesn't grow on trees and we all have to make climate compromises somewhere. The range of choices available to us, however, is governed by the institutional setup we live in. Cannon-Brookes could reduce his carbon footprint by moving away from the isolated southern hemisphere country where Atlassian earns only 11% of its revenue. I could cut back on Uber Eats to afford the payments on an electric car lease. In each case, though, technology and regulations make the polluting option a no-brainer. That's not meant to be just snark. One of the most profound problems in the energy transition is that carbon pollution is more or less free. Even places like Europe which have been trading emission permits for two decades mostly levy them only on major facilities like power stations. That means it's easy for the rest of us to choose the carbon-intensive option. The most substantive of these choices is not what Cannon-Brookes is doing with his plane, but with his business. Right now, the most important aspect of this is artificial intelligence. Atlassian sells software products such as Jira and Trello, which help businesses run their operations more effectively. Revenues largely depend on the number of white-collar professionals signed up and they're threatened by the possibility that many of those clients are going to be automated out of their jobs in the years ahead. As a result, Atlassian is trying to persuade customers that its own cloud-based technologies and AI can make it more useful to them than ever. The carbon cost of this is significant. Data center emissions in the U.S. already rival those of the domestic airline industry and are growing far quicker. Atlassian's pollution from "purchased goods and services' — mostly data centers — has increased 77% in the past two fiscal years as it has embraced the inevitability of AI, along with the rest of the tech sector. This now amounts to about two-thirds of its rapidly expanding footprint — well ahead of the 22% from every business trip taken by its 12,000-odd employees, not to mention the sliver one private jet would represent. Put a reasonable price on all that carbon and any money being made disappears. Gross profits over the six years Atlassian has reported comprehensive emissions have amounted to 19 cents per metric ton of its total footprint, compared to an average $52 per ton for European carbon permits over the period. The company's main strategy for fixing this is encouraging its suppliers to set credible net-zero targets, but just 12.3% had done so last June. The comforting response to this is to accuse do-gooder private-jet fliers such as Cannon-Brookes and Taylor Swift of hypocrisy. The tougher realization is that not doing enough is always the easy option. We're all victims of temptation when it comes to climate pollution, though the consequences of that are vastly larger when you have immense personal wealth to deploy. Cannon-Brookes is a rare billionaire who has actually put money where his mouth is on climate, whether it's buying a 10% stake in generator AGL Energy to push a faster closure of coal plants or funding a quixotic plan to export renewable electricity from Australia to Singapore. That's a far better record than the U.S. moguls who cut funding for climate initiatives and ingratiated themselves with President Donald Trump as soon as net zero fell from fashion. The problem isn't that the rich are hypocrites — it's that they're powerful. Zeroing out emissions may force us all to make choices we'd rather not make. That's likely to hurt even the most conscience-plagued billionaires, and in most societies, they'll have an outsized ability to block needed political change. It's up to ordinary voters to ensure the complaints of a handful of moguls don't limit the scope of what we'll do to halt climate change. The modern liberal-democratic society we've built, bolstered by a stable environment, is a precious one. If we don't want it to perish from the earth, we need an alternative to a government of billionaires, by billionaires, for billionaires. David Fickling is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering climate change and energy.
The Guardian
14-03-2025
- Automotive
- The Guardian
Billionaire climate campaigner Mike Cannon-Brookes defends buying private jet and sponsoring F1 team
The Australian billionaire and outspoken climate advocate Mike Cannon-Brookes has defended buying a private jet and his company's new sponsorship of the Williams Formula One racing team. Cannon-Brookes admitted to 'deep internal conflict' over the purchase of the jet, reportedly a Bombardier 7500, but claimed that technology to directly capture CO2 from the atmosphere, and the use of sustainable jet fuel, would cancel emissions from his flights. Cannon-Brookes sought to explain the reasons why he bought the jet and Atlassian's F1 sponsorship in an almost-500 word post to LinkedIn, hours after the Australian Financial Review had written about the billionaire's new jet. Estimated to be worth US$13bn by Forbes, Cannon-Brookes said he bought a private jet 'so I can run a global business from Australia, and still be a constantly present dad' which was a 'hard, continual tradeoff I've decided to make'. On the sponsorship of the Williams F1 team, Cannon-Brookes said he appreciated 'the double take' on the deal because 'cars=fuel'. Cannon-Brookes has gained a reputation for being outspoken on climate issues, but has faced strong criticism of the F1 sponsorship and the jet. 'It probably comes as no surprise, I have an extremely rigorous carbon regime for all my flying – including using direct air capture and sustainable fuels for the carbon and contrails, to far exceed my flight footprint,' he wrote. 'These options aren't practical for commercial flights – but are viable privately. This means my flights actually have a net negative carbon footprint.' In 2023 Atlassian, the software company he co-founded, issued a guide titled 'Don't F&*! The Planet' to help other companies cut their emissions. In his LinkedIn post, Cannon-Brookes says he had conversations with Formula One's governing body, the FIA, and was 'impressed with their plans to get to net zero'. According to F1's latest report on sustainability, the sport was responsible for 223,031 tonnes of CO2 in 2023. While the fuel burned by the racing cars was less than 1% of the sport's footprint, the vehicles would shift to 100% sustainable fuel derived from waste and sources of non-food biomass by 2026. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Cannon-Brookes said the Williams team's moves to cut emissions 'mirrors Atlassian's own journey'. 'F1 can set a global example for sustainability in sports – and I believe it will,' he said. 'I believe in a sustainable future. I believe in constant, practical forward motion. I well understand that takes hard, continual tradeoffs (which aren't the same as denying or delaying). 'My commitment to climate is as strong as ever. I'm still pretty damn focused on making an impact at a large scale, removing huge volumes of emissions through active investments and philanthropy … and have the proud scars to prove it.' Cannon-Brookes said he remained determined to help transform Australia into a 'renewable energy superpower'. 'I am still a deep believer that decarbonisation is the single greatest economic opportunity for Australia.'
