#JUSTUSETEAMS
Why Microsoft must limit its flight numbers to 2020 levels forever - for the climate and its employees. Not a Microsoft site.
“If we don’t curb emissions, and temperatures continue to climb, science tells us that the results will be catastrophic.”
(source: Microsoft)
The problem? Microsoft is one of the world’s top corporate buyers of flights.
(source: Statista)
1 STAFF
Glassdoor review
Microsoft employees, leave an anonymous Glassdoor review to tell your bosses to permanently stick to using Teams instead of taking polluting, exhausting flights for meetings.
2 CUSTOMERS
Share on Twitter
Click below to tweet Microsoft that you want them to become a real climate leader by permanently striking pointless business flights from their travel policy.
#JustUseTeams
Microsoft is such a loyal partner to the fossil-fuelled aviation industry, its employees have their own check-in lane at Seattle Airport.
Image source: Elliot Howells
BEFORE THE PANDEMIC, MICROSOFT’S BUSINESS TRAVEL EMITTED MORE
GREENHOUSE GASES THAN SOME ENTIRE COUNTRIES.
Annual greenhouse
gas emissions
(metric tons of CO2e)
(source: 1.Microsoft 2019 Data FACTSHEET: ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS)
2. COUNTRY EMISSIONS DATA ARE FROM EDGAR DATABASE
ALL FIGURES ARE FOR 2017
If Microsoft doesn’t limit its flight numbers permanently to 2020 levels, it would be bad for…
1
The climate
Microsoft already knows flights are terrible for the climate – that’s why it’s been offsetting its flights and investing in sustainable jet fuels. But offsets are deeply flawed and sustainable aviation fuels are so expensive that the airline industry has consistently failed to meet its own targets for sustainable fuel use over the decades. If Microsoft wants to be a real climate leader, it must scrap all but the most necessary flights from its travel policy.
2
Productivity (and competitiveness)
There’s a reason Microsoft invented Teams to replace flights in the first place. Flying half way around the world for a one-hour meeting is a huge waste of time and resources – nearly 1 in 3 business travelers find it difficult to stay on top of their workload when traveling. Polling in Europe has shown around 3 in 4 business workers think recent air travel restrictions had no effect or a positive effect on productivity.
3
Employee welfare
Frequent business travel has been linked to burnout – nearly a quarter of business travelers say they have to work more to make up for lost time while traveling. Business flights can especially lead to added stress for single parents, who have to find childcare for their kids. This is something Microsoft should be especially worried about given its own research recently found 41% of the global workforce is considering leaving their employer this year.
What are other companies doing?
Salesforce introduced new flight emissions reduction targets in April, admitting offsets are not enough. Lloyds bank in the UK has pledged to keep carbon-dioxide emissions from travel to less than 50 per cent of 2019 levels. Dutch bank ABN is aiming to halve its air travel compared with 2017 over the next five years, replacing flights with train travel between its European offices. Noel Quinn, chief executive of HSBC, expects to reduce his own travel by about half post-Covid, while Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has publicly said he’ll fly less for the climate. Microsoft’s outdated offset policy risks being left behind by other companies showing real climate leadership.
(Sources: Fastcompany.com, FT.com, CNBC.com)
“I plan to fly a lot less now that the pandemic has shown we can get by with less trips.”
Microsoft’s partners
deserve better
From building a weather forecasting supercomputer with the UK’s Met Office to using AI to help organisations understand climate-related risk, Microsoft does a tremendous amount of work with partners to tackle climate change. If Microsoft was to go back to emitting as much through business flights as before the pandemic, it would risk undermining the meaningful contributions its sustainability team, its partners and its customers make every day. Business and people all around the world look to Microsoft for thought leadership and practical solutions – and relying on offsets and advancements in jet fuels just isn’t good enough.
