Boris Johnson defends using private jet for 400-mile trip from Glasgow back to London after lecturing world leaders on the need to cut down on travel emissions at COP26
- The Prime Minister will make the 400-mile flight south due to ‘time constraints’
- He is due to return to the capital when the leaders’ conference ends this week
- Spokesman said plane is powered by a special mix of ‘sustainable’ aviation fuel
- PM told leaders today they can no longer afford to delay major climate action
Boris Johnson will travel back to London from the Cop26 climate change conference by private jet after lecturing world leaders on the need to cut travel emissions, Downing Street confirmed tonight.
The Prime Minister will make the 400-mile flight south due to ‘time constraints’ that mean he cannot use the direct train route between the two cities, a spokesman told reporters.
Mr Johnson is due to return to the capital when the leaders’ conference section of the summit ends this week.
He today told world leaders at the start of the COP26 summit that they can no longer afford to delay taking major action to address climate change as he warned ‘the longer we fail to act, the worse it gets’.
He said the world has ‘long since run the clock down on climate change’ and there is now just ‘one minute to midnight’, with action required immediately to prevent a global disaster.
But after his speech, his spokesman told reporters he would fly back to London using a private charter powered by a special mix of ‘sustainable’ aviation fuel.
He said it is one of the most carbon-efficient aircraft of its size, while the emissions will also be offset.
Pressed on why the Prime Minister could not go by train for a journey within the UK, the spokesman said it was important he was able to travel round the country while facing ‘significant time constraints’.
It came after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ £48million Gulf Stream led a 400-strong parade of private jets into COP26 including Prince Albert of Monaco, scores of royals and dozens of ‘green’ CEOs – as an extraordinary traffic jam forced empty planes to fly 30 miles to find space to park.
Mr Johnson today told world leaders at the start of the COP26 summit that they can no longer afford to delay taking major action to address climate change as he warned ‘the longer we fail to act, the worse it gets’.
He flew into Glasgow on Sunday night after attending the G20 in Rome at the weekend and will fly back to London later this week
Amazon airways: Jeff Bezos’ Gulfstream private jet – which reportedly cost him £48million – arrives at Prestwick Airport near Glasgow on Sunday
Mr Johnson’s charter aircraft produces less than half the emissions produced by the RAF Voyager which the Prime Minister sometimes uses for foreign travel.
But its use will embolden critics who say there is one set of rules for the global rich and another for everyone else, amid efforts to cut global air travel to cut emissions.
‘Our approach to tackling climate change is to use technology so that we do not have to change how we use modes of transport, rather we use technology on things like electric vehicles so that we can still get to net zero,’ the spokesman said.
‘That has very much been at the core of our approach.
‘It is important that the Prime Minister is able to move round the country and obviously we face significant time constraints.
‘The plane the Prime Minister used on his travels is one of the most carbon-efficient planes of its size in the world. It produces 50 per cent less CO2 emissions than, for example, the larger, Voyager plane.
‘It uses a specific type of fuel that is a blend of 35 per cent sustainable aviation fuel and 65 per cent normal fuel, which is the maximum amount allowed.’
Mr Johnson used the aircraft, operated by Titan Airways, to fly out to the G20 summit in Rome on Friday and then carried on to Glasgow on Sunday.
The disclosure came after Chancellor Rishi Sunak faced accusations of hypocrisy when he announced a cut in air passenger duty on short-haul flights and a further freezing of fuel duty in his Budget last week, just days before the opening of Cop26.
On Sunday, MailOnline observed at least 52 private jets landing at Glasgow – while estimates put the total number flying in for the conference at 400. Conservative predictions suggest the fleet of private jets arriving for COP26 will blast out 13,000tonnes of carbon dioxide in total – equivalent to the amount consumed by more than 1,600 Britons in a year.
Mr Bezos met Prince Charles this week to discuss climate change. He tweeted: ‘The Prince of Wales has been involved in fighting climate change and protecting our beautiful world far longer than most. We had a chance to discuss these important issues on the eve of #COP26 — looking for solutions to heal our world, and how the @BezosEarthFund can help’
Prince Charles was among those travelling by non-commercial plane from the G20 in Rome.
Mr Bezos – who regularly lectures the world on climate change – arrived in Glasgow fresh from celebrating Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ 66th birthday on a £2million-a-week superyacht off the coast of Turkey in an event that generated fresh claims of green hypocrisy. He reached the boat by helicopter, according to reports.
Joe Biden touched down in Edinburgh today while Germany’s Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron of France arrived at Glasgow. President Biden alone will generate an estimated 2.2million pounds of carbon to reach the summit, thanks to a fleet of four planes, the Marine One helicopter and an enormous motorcade including The Beast and numerous SUVs.
Source: Read Full Article
