Billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes is heading to the United Nations summit on climate change to “fly the Australian flag” by committing his firm Atlassian to a net zero emissions target by 2050 by DavidGDawkins
is heading to the United Nations summit on climate change to “fly the Australian flag” by committing his firm Atlassian to a net zero emissions target by 2050.
Mike Cannon-Brookes is cofounder of collaboration software firm Atlassian, based in Sydney and has long been a vocal advocate for reducing Australia's reliance on fossil fuels. He said in a statement that Atlassian has “a responsibility to act” adding, “we have to do our bit to reduce our impact on the planet. If we don’t, we’re cooked.”
Cannon-Brookes will join UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in urging governments and businesses to come to New York and announce an increase in their climate change ambition and targets. Atlassian has responded by announcing a target of net zero emissions by no later than 2050 and setting science-based targets aligned with limiting a global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Early Days: Atlassian Co-executives Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar at their Sydney office in 2006.Cannon-Brookes who boasts NASA, Tesla and SpaceX as customers, said, “It’s pretty simple, we are responding to the science,” adding that it is “awesome” to see businesses “showing real leadership on climate action.”
Cannon-Brookes cites Vodafone, HP, AstraZeneca, Singtel and Unilever in having joined Atlassian in committing to net zero emissions.Cannon-Brookes, who started Atlassian soon after graduating from college, is now worth an estimated $9 billion. He is often described in the Australian press as the “accidental” billionaire after founding his firm to merely replicate a typical graduate starting salary, without having to work for someone else.
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