THE VIPS TOUCH DOWN... IN 400 GAS GUZZLING JETS
WORLD leaders and delegates arrived for Cop26 last night as more than 400 private jets began to touch down in Scotland.
Joe Biden’s Air Force One was also expected to land at around midnight, followed later by France’s Cotam 001, Canada’s Air Force VIP, Germany’s Konrad Adenauer, Japan’s Air Force One, Air India One and Israel’s Wing of Zion.
Delegations from across the globe were due to land at Glasgow Airport, Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire and Edinburgh
Airport ahead of the world leaders’ summit today and tomorrow.
Additional flights will be arriving for events over the next two weeks.
But the volume of air traffic has led to accusations of hypocrisy.
Matt Finch, of the Transport and Environment campaign group, said: ‘The average private jet, and we are not talking Air Force One, emits two tons of CO2 for every hour in flight. It can’t be stressed enough how bad private jets are for the environment – it is the worst way to travel, by miles.
‘Our research has found that most journeys could easily be completed on scheduled flights. Private jets are very prestigious but it is difficult to avoid the hypocrisy of using one while claiming to be fighting climate change.
‘To put it in context, the total carbon footprint of an ordinary citizen, including everywhere they travel and everything they consume, is around eight tons a year. So an executive or politician taking one long-haul private flight will burn more CO2 than several normal people do in a year.’
Around 100 of the aircraft are believed to be carrying delegates from Europe – with most round trips taking on average four hours – while a further 300 longhaul trips will clock up roughly 20 hours in the air.