Microsoft: Will you meet with me to discuss your business flights addiction?
Dear Eric Bailey, Global Director of Travel at Microsoft, and Lucas Joppa, Chief Environmental Officer at Microsoft,
The massive emissions from Microsoft business flights means you’re part of the problem; will you meet with me to discuss how you can be part of the solution?
The climate crisis is raging across the world, causing huge suffering. In just the last month, Hurricane Ida has killed dozens of people in four states in the US, unprecedented wildfires have torn across Siberia, Russia and tens of thousands of people are affected by a devastating climate-induced famine in Madagascar.
You must have noticed: Seattle, home to Microsoft’s headquarters, saw record-breaking temperatures of 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 Celsius) in June.
This isn’t new: I’ve felt the threat of climate change since I was a child, with my family home in the Hunza Valley, northern Pakistan, threatened by melting glaciers and deadly heat waves as temperatures have risen.
We can’t go on like this: it’s do or die. We need urgent action, and everyone has to do their part. As a multi-billion dollar company, you have a bigger responsibility than most.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Microsoft was one of the biggest corporate flight buyers in the world. In the 2019 financial year, your business travel emitted 392,577 metric tons of greenhouse gases. That’s a huge amount — it’s even bigger than the entire national emissions of countries like Anguilla in the Caribbean, or Vanuatu in the Pacific.
Business flights are the very definition of climate injustice: just 1% of the world’s population cause half of all aviation emissions, while 80% of the world’s population, including most of those worst impacted by climate change, have never been on a plane. I’m part of that 80%; I’ve never taken a flight. Yet every day I live with the consequences of a planet overheated by the greenhouse gas emissions from flights.
It doesn’t have to be this way. During the pandemic, we all learnt new ways of living, working, and studying. Many of us turned to video conferencing, using tools like Microsoft’s own Teams platform to connect virtually. Flights fell to historic lows — but your profits didn’t — they kept rising.
You showed that it’s still possible to do business without taking so many flights, meaning many of your flights were actually pointless. Even your co-founder, Bill Gates, said that over 50% of business travel “will go away” once the pandemic is over. You could save huge amounts of money if your staff flew less — it’s a win-win for your business and for the planet.
Together with other youth climate activists and NGOs, we started a campaign calling on Microsoft to limit your flight numbers to 2020 levels forever. It’s simple — you can #JustUseTeams!
But so far, you’re ignoring us, despite the nice words on your website about the urgent need to curb emissions. Microsoft is coming to the COP26 climate talks this November as a “principal partner”, to advise the world on how technology can reduce emissions — yet you’re not even committing to reduce your own flight emissions.
That’s why I’m asking you to meet with me and other youth climate activists to discuss how we can work together to find joint solutions to the climate crisis, starting with reducing your flights. As a world-famous company whose products are used by millions of people worldwide, you can be a leader in setting a better path for the future, inspiring other companies to cut their business flights, too.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, I sincerely hope you can find time for a virtual meeting — on Teams, of course.
Jaweria Baig (@jaweriabaig2) is an 18-year-old climate activist based in Karachi, Pakistan.
