FUNAFUTI, TUVALU - Microsoft announced last year it will be carbon-negative by 2030. “If we don’t curb emissions, and temperatures continue to climb,” the firm said on its official blog, “science tells us that the results will be catastrophic.”

Microsoft deserves credit for publicly discussing the climate crisis, being transparent about its own greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, and at least having some sort of plan to reduce them.

Yet the elephant in the room is that Microsoft is one of the top ten corporate buyers of commercial flights in the United States. Before the pandemic, in the financial year 2019, the firm’s business travel alone accounted for 392,557 metric tons of GHG emissions.

That is far more than my entire Pacific island country emits in a year. Tuvalu is well known for its vulnerability to the effects of climate change. We contribute almost nothing to global GHG emissions, but their consequences affect us on a daily basis.

Microsoft’s high level of corporate air travel is not a good image for a company that talks big on climate, sustainability, and racial justice, especially one that literally has its own videoconferencing platform. Surely an advanced tech firm that claims to be “reimagining virtual collaboration for the future of work” should practice what it preaches, and fly less.

Microsoft does not stand alone among tech firms. Five of the ten largest buyers of corporate air travel in the US are technology companies: Amazon, IBM, Google, Apple, and Microsoft. These digital giants, along with the big consulting firms, are also among the top buyers of flights globally.

Infrequent Flyers

Though one might expect hordes of employees from these big companies to fly to many meetings, even bigger employers fly less. Companies that tout te