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 News.com.au 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.
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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.
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