EXCUSES OF HARRY, PRIVATE JET PRINCE
99% of my flights are commercial ... I only fly privately to keep family safe, he says
PrINCE Harry defended his repeated use of private jets yesterday, claiming he needs them for his family’s safety.
He has been accused of hypocrisy for using charter flights six times this summer while urging the public to cut their carbon footprint.
He took a scheduled flight to Amsterdam this week to promote Travalyst, a scheme that promotes environmentally-friendly tourism.
Speaking at the event, the prince refused to apologise for his recent private flights to Italy, France and Spain, saying: ‘I spend 99 per cent of my life travelling the world by commercial.
‘Occasionally there needs to be an opportunity [to fly privately] based on a unique circumstance to ensure that my family are safe – it’s as simple as that. For me it’s about balance. It’s not a decision I would want to take, but if I have to do that, I will ensure that I balance out the impact that I have.’
Despite his comments, analysis of Harry and Meghan’s known flights since their wedding last year shows six of the ten return trips they took were by private jet – 60 per cent of the total.
Harry dismissed concerns over his carbon footprint by insisting that he ‘offsets’ his emissions by donating to renewable energy incentives and planting trees.
Elton John said he did this on the prince’s behalf when he provided a private plane to fly him and Meghan to his home in the south of France last month.
The prince said: ‘I’ve always offset my CO2. What is offsetting CO2? So many people out there hear about it but don’t know about it. In my mind, it’s the right thing to do.
‘We need to make it cool. But it can’t just be a ticking-thebox exercise. Somehow we have to connect people to where that little bit of extra money is actually going.
‘The moment you have that connection, you feel like you have a bigger purpose in life, you can actually see the difference you are making.’
Harry added: ‘I’ve learned that we cannot dismiss the idea of trying to do something, just because we can’t do everything. We can all do better. And while no one is perfect, we are all responsible for our own individual impact.’
The prince’s remarks drew criticism from broadcaster Piers Morgan, an outspoken critic of the royal couple, who said: ‘Prince Harry preaching about the environment again. He can do this, or be a constant privatejet-setting celebrity. Not both.’
One trip in July saw the sixth in line to the throne fly on a private jet to Sicily to deliver a speech at ‘Google Camp’. He also took holidays to Ibiza and Nice in August with his wife and son that produced 82 tons of CO2. That is the equivalent of the emissions from 17 cars over a whole year.
Sir Elton and other celebrities weighed in to defend the royal couple, saying private jets were their best option in terms of privacy and security.
However, the same month saw the Duke and Duchess Cambridge photographed flying with their children on a budget flight from Norfolk to Scotland. Decisions about the most effective, economical and safe way to travel are taken by a royal visits committee.
But figures from accounts published in June show the royal household’s carbon emissions due to business travel almost doubled last year.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said Harry’s commercial flights yesterday would be offset, paid for by Travalyst partners.
An aide said Harry had merely been using a figure of speech when he cited the ‘99 per cent’ figure. Sources stressed the list of flights analysed ‘wasn’t exhaustive’ and some ‘undocumented’ private travel would have been taken commercially. ‘Today is not [about] lecturing people but trying to bring industry leaders together to make tourism more sustainable. It’s a fantastic initiative,’ they said.
Harry’s Travalyst project has brought together some of the biggest names in the industry – Booking.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, TripAdvisor and Visa – and aims to make the future of travel more sustainable.
The number of global trips has more than doubled since 2008 and is expected to reach 1.8billion by 2030. In his speech, Harry outlined the impact of this mass tourism on places such as Maya Bay in Thailand, made famous by the film The Beach and where reefs have died.
‘We can all do better’