Cannon-Brookes, Farquhar release a ‘how to’ guide to jolt companies into taking climate action

From the consultants it works with and green strategies that paid off, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar hope other firms will follow Atlassian’s net zero emissions guide.

Atlassian co-CEOs Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar say the company is on track to achieve net zero by 2040 – 10 years ahead of its initial schedule.

Atlassian is attempting to jump-start faltering net zero plans among Australian and global companies, releasing a decarbonisation “how to guide” as corporate climate strategies fall short of the Paris Agreement’s temperature goals.

Less than one-third of top Australian companies have adopted science-based climate targets, with major green body, the ­Climate Leaders Coalition, warning companies face a crackdown with tougher disclosure rules set to start in July 2024.

In an effort to jolt more companies into action, Atlassian – helmed by billionaires Mike Cannon Brookes and Scott Farquhar – has made its net zero strategy ­freely available, with almost 1000 companies so far downloading the resource.

The COP28 climate summit started in Dubai on Thursday.

Atlassian head of sustainability Jessica Hyman said the guide, ­titled Don’t #@!% the Planet revealed how Atlassian took steps to slash its emissions and what consultants it used.

“A lot of it is sort of ‘the how’ we did it and how you think about teams and influence, just as much as it is just sort of tactical here, the consultants we work with and the pathway to get there,” Ms Hyman said. “For example, we purchased the EACs (energy attribute certificates), but (explain) ‘the how’ we did it. Here’s how we landed the message with the founders. Here’s how we engage with our finance team and the collaboration that was required to get here.”

Atlassian head of sustainability Jessica Hyman

Atlassian says it will achieve net zero by 2040 – 10 years ahead of its initial plans – and has signed its first virtual power purchase agreement to match its in-office electricity and work-from-home energy use among other initiatives.

But Ms Hyman concedes the company is falling short in regard to business travel – a problem she says businesses can’t buy their way out of with offsets.

“Business travel is a core part of our emissions reduction goal … and we’re above where we want to be right now. So how do you kind of balance the reality of business travel with emissions reduction.” Steps Atlassian is taking is “optimising” business travel – so choosing direct flights where possible rather than multiple stops.

It is also ensuring that when employees travel, it helps make the business more efficient.

The company has joined the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance, which has Boeing, BCG, Deloitte, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Netflix and Salesforce as founding members and aims to accelerate investment in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

“It’s about pooling the demand (for SAF) and showing there is demand from a group of corporate buyers. Interestingly, there is a very similar group for purchasing energy attribute certificates,” Ms Hyman said.

“So companies got together to kind of say ‘hey, there’s a market out here and we’re looking for a marketplace to go and buy this.”

Ms Hyman said the first step a company must take was understanding its emissions profile – similar to organising financial accounts.

“It sounds really intimidating, and certainly I would have felt that way going into it, but in some ways you think of it exactly the same as financial accounting. It’s really not that different. And by the way, we’re using data from our financial system.

“So it’s data that you have for the most part, but then what you’re doing is you’re using the greenhouse gas protocol to basically layer in ‘OK, how do I translate this spend data for example, into emissions data. So it’s actually not overly complicated.

“There’s so much support out there and actually in the Don’t #@!% the Planet guide we list all the consultants that we’ve used to do the work just to make it easier for folks.”

The Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) said only 29 per cent of some of Australia’s biggest companies had taken up Scope 3 emissions targets, which are those produced outside a company’s direct industrial processes.

The CLC urges member companies to accelerate cuts to Scope 3 emissions or face significant commercial consequences, with strict new reporting standards mandating Scope 3 commitments and reporting from July 2024.

The environmental initiative, backed by Richard Branson’s The B Team, was created in 2020 to discuss tackling climate change in line with the Paris Agreement, which aims to keep temperature rises well below 2C above pre-industrial levels with an aim of limiting rises to 1.5C.

But three years on, pressure is mounting on Australian businesses to start delivering results.