New Starbucks CEO Criticized for 1,600 Kilometer Commute
On the Starbucks website, there's a page that talks about the coffee company's plans to reduce its carbon emissions.
The plan, it says, is "to give more than we take from the planet."
So it's easy to see why the company has been criticized online after it was reported that the new CEO will be traveling 1,600 kilometers to and from work in a private plane.
Brian Niccol, who starts work as the new CEO on September 9, lives in Newport Beach in southern California.
But the company's offices are at the other end of America's west coast, in Seattle.
Starbucks said Niccol won't be traveling to Seattle every day — he'll have a hybrid schedule like some of the company's other employees.
But that may mean he has to be at the office at least three days per week, which could still mean a lot of traveling.
According to the BBC, the flight takes at least two-and-a-half hours, while it would be an 18-hour trip by car.
The company said Niccol is likely to buy another home in Seattle, while it will also open a small office in Newport Beach that he can work from.
However, users on social media were quick to criticize the arrangement, especially because of the way Starbucks talks about protecting the planet.
Private planes produce more carbon emissions per passenger than any other type of travel.
Niccol will be paid $1.6 million per year in his new job, but could make more than $7 million more in yearly bonuses.
In 2021, the United Nations found that the richest 1% of people in the world produced more than double the combined carbon emissions of the poorest 50%.
