At Edinburgh Airport, the private jets of world leaders stand side by side. – © AFP
Flying has a heavy climate footprint, but that hasn’t stopped hundreds of government leaders, celebrities and other wealthy people from flying private jets to the climate summit in Glasgow.
GVSource: De Telegraaf, Daily Mail
Hundreds of private planes have landed in Glasgow in recent days, according to British media, already about 400 planes. Air traffic was so crowded on Sunday that some planes had to divert to nearby Prestwick to land. Others traveled to the capital, Edinburgh (about 80 kilometers from Glasgow), where hotels are better, to move to Glasgow from there. All those private jets, according to daily Mail A total of about 13,000 tons of carbon dioxide. These include Amazon chief Jeff Bezos and Prince Albert of Monaco.
Several passengers on those private jets – including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Prince Charles and South Korean President Moon Jae-in – came from the G-20 meeting in Rome. But there was no question about the use of shared cars (“aircraft industry”?).
US President Joe Biden landed in Edinburgh on Monday with four planes, a presidential helicopter and a huge motorcade, including the presidential limousine. the monster And many four-wheel drive cars. That fleet alone would generate an estimated 1 million pounds of carbon to reach the top.
What about the Belgian politicians?
Then Belgian politicians, fittingly enough, did something a bit more climate-conscious: Prime Minister Alexandre de Croo (Open VLD), who will address the climate summit on Tuesday, traveled to Scotland on a scheduled trip. Flemish Climate Minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA) will reportedly do the same when she later moves to Glasgow.
Her Walloon counterpart Zakia Khattabi (Ekolo) and Federal Energy Minister Tine van der Straiten (Green) are doing better: The Green Excellencies traveled to Scotland by train.
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