Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes has made it onto Bloomberg‘s inaugural ‘Green 30’ list for being a driving force for clean-tech in Australia, and for being a thorn in Scott Morrison’s side.
Joining Cannon-Brookes are international household names, such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, BBC historian Sir David Attenborough and activist Greta Thunberg, as well as several “fake meat pioneers”.
Among his entrepreneurial accomplishments, Bloomberg lauds Cannon-Brookes’ vocal Twitter activism against Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s climate change policies.
“For years he’s wielded his Twitter account like a cudgel against Prime Minister Scott Morrison, whose government has downplayed the links between climate change and the deadly blazes,” Bloomberg wrote.
Cannon-Brookes has also pushed for cleaner tech within Australia’s tech industry.
Last year, he pledged Atlassian would switch to 100% renewable energy and reduce its energy waste by 2025.
In November, Cannon-Brookes invested in the Northern Territory’s solar battery farm — set to be the largest in the world, and costing roughly $20 billion.
And in 2017, he notably facilitated the installation of the South Australian Tesla battery following a bet with Tesla co-founder and fellow Green 30 listee Elon Musk.
The Aussie billionaire challenged Musk to put his money where his mouth was when he boasted Tesla’s battery — which was forecasted to relieve South Australia’s energy issues — would be installed within 100 days of signing the paperwork.
Lyndon & @elonmusk – how serious are you about this bet? If I can make the $ happen (& politics), can you guarantee the 100MW in 100 days? https://t.co/av38xcizNo
— Mike Cannon-Brookes ???????????????? (@mcannonbrookes) March 9, 2017
Accepting the challenge, Musk offered to scrap the costs if he failed to live up to his promise.
legend! ☀️ You’re on mate. Give me 7 days to try sort out politics & funding. DM me a quote for approx 100MW cost – mates rates!
— Mike Cannon-Brookes ???????????????? (@mcannonbrookes) March 10, 2017
In late-November, Cannon-Brookes conceded defeat.
⚡️ Thank you @elonmusk, Tesla’s amazing Aussie team, @jayweatherill & all SA ???????? Never been more happy to lose a bet. 3x bigger than any ???? in world! Huge step for Australia & proving what we can do. Only lumps of coal req’d are for #AusPol stockings ???? https://t.co/Xm8hm5y33O
— Mike Cannon-Brookes ???????????????? (@mcannonbrookes) November 23, 2017
You can view the full list here.