Mike Cannon-Brookes (42) is Australia’s third richest person. He is known as a strong supporter of the global switch to renewable energy and as a very critical voice against his country’s climate policy. He has been trying in recent weeks to buy up polluting Australian coal-fired power stations with the intention of closing them. It was supposed to be the largest decarbonization project in the world, but it failed.
Mike Cannon-Brookes co-founded software company Atlassian with Scott Farquhar. The two are often described as “unintentional billionaires”. After their studies, they only wanted to avoid having to work for some IT company as an employee with their start-up. So today they are billionaires.
The Australian government’s lack of action on environmental pollution frustrates Cannon-Brookes. That’s why he wants to do something about it himself. Last year he promised 313 million euros of his personal assets for the climate case. He sponsored non-profit organizations working to stop climate change and invested in projects that promote clean energy. Cannon-Brookes can do without that money: his capital is estimated at more than 15 billion euros.
On February 19, he tried to go one step further. Together with Canadian asset manager Brookfield, he made a new offer for AGL, an Australian electric utility that owns three of the country’s 16 coal-fired power stations. The intention of Cannon-Brookes was to close it permanently, because the Australian government does not want to do that itself. He would then replace the coal-fired power stations with power stations that use renewable energy sources.
But AGL turned down Cannon-Brookes and Brookfield’s $7.2 billion offer because it was too low. AGL also found Cannon-Brookes’ plans “unrealistic”. However, the man did not give up and continued to negotiate. His consortium made an improved offer of 7.8 billion euros last Friday, but that too was not enough for AGL. “It is with great sadness that we now put down the pen,” the billionaire tweeted after the rejection.
Coal-fired power stations provide cheap electricity and provide thousands of jobs in Australia. That is why Cannon-Brookes also opposed Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. He claimed that closing the coal-fired power stations by 2030 would drive electricity prices soaring. Cannon-Brookes denied that. According to him, the eight-year period to shut down the plants was longer than required by law and more than sufficient for the market to prepare for the changes. AGL’s millions of customers would not be without electricity. The company would undertake to purchase electricity externally if its own production were not sufficient.
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