Prove summit is not just a lavish ‘eco-jolly’ as 40k delegates f ly in
MINISTERS were pressed to prove that Cop26 is more than an ‘extravagant eco-jolly’ yesterday as it emerged that almost 40,000 delegates are due to attend the summit.
The landmark talks have been snubbed by several world leaders, but their regimes have sent some of the biggest parties.
And as massive numbers travel to Glasgow, private planes have been forced to fly on for another 20 minutes to ‘park’ at Prestwick Airport.
Brazil, accused of mass deforestation in the Amazon under Jair Bolsonaro, applied to send 479 people – the largest delegation of any nation – to the talks, although its president was not among those who travelled to Glasgow.
While Vladimir Putin also declined to attend Cop26, Russia applied to send 312 delegates. The UK is represented by 230 MPs, political advisers and strategists – as well as Prince
Charles, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Sir David Attenborough. The US registered 165 delegates.
A Cop26 spokesman said the UK will be ‘offsetting carbon emissions associated with the event, including international travel’, adding ‘all delegates have been encouraged to consider low-carbon travel options’.
Despite this, aircraft from countries including Cyprus, Egypt, Bolivia and Croatia have dropped off guests in Glasgow before flying less than 40 miles to Prestwick – prompting the Scottish Conservatives to say the site was being used as a ‘car park for private jets’.
Provisional figures on the total number of delegates, compiled by climate news website Carbon
Brief, showed 39,509 registered participants at Cop26. Just over half were applications from nation states, with others from NGOs, independent ‘observer organisations’ and the media.
The final total, to be released after the summit ends, could confirm its status as the most well-attended in history.
China, the world’s biggest emitter, applied to send just 60 people. Their leader Xi Jinping was not among them.
Labour’s business spokesman Ed Miliband warned that sending ‘massive delegations across the world to make tiny commitments is totally contrary to the spirit of what this is supposed to be about’.
Luke Pollard, Labour’s environment spokesman, added ‘if this is eco-tourism’ then ‘that is not good for the planet or the possibility of agreement’.
John O’Connell of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘The Government must ensure Cop represents value for money... and not an extravagant eco-jolly.’
It has been estimated the summit could cost UK taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds.
‘Totally contrary to what it’s about’