Jeff Bezos flies in to COP26

An estimated 25,000 ‘Delegates’, 1,000 world leaders and celebrities have descended on the UN Climate Change Conference being held in Glasgow, Scotland, to save the world from global warming and in doing so pumping an estimated 13,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.

World leaders including US President Joe Biden, the heir to the British throne Prince Charles, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and a host of other presidents and dignitaries, including our own President Uhuru Kenyatta, have rubbed shoulders with the likes of Leonardo Dicaprio, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and the singer Ellie Goulding, whilst putting the world to rights about the ‘climate emergency’.

Outside the conference centre demonstrators, including Greta Thunberg taking time out from her education to educate the rest of us, have called for more action, more money and no meat in our diets.

Air Traffic Jam

And how did many of these leaders, celebrities and delegates get to Glasgow? Answer: in about 400 private jets in addition to thousands of scheduled flights, creating what one Scottish newspaper described as “an extraordinary traffic jam [which] forced empty planes to fly 30 miles to find space to park.”

Electric Cars, No Charge

There was a plan to ferry the great and the good attending COP26 in electric cars but there aren’t enough recharging points in the city to power the eco-friendly cars. Many of the world leaders resorted to large cavalcades of vehicles powered by more conventional internal combustion engines.

Jeff Bezos Flies In To Save The Amazon

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, for example, arrived in his very own $65 million Gulf Stream jet, before sitting down with Prince Charles to discuss what to do about the ‘climate emergency’.

British Prime Minster Boris Johnson warned delegates that, “If we don’t get serious about climate change today, it will be too late for our children”, and later hopped into a jet to fly down to London for dinner.

Two Tons CO2 Per Flight Per Hour

A Mr Matt Finch, of the UK’s Transport and Environment campaign group, told the Scottish newspaper The Sunday Mail: “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.”

He added, “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.”

Notable absentees from the climate change conference are Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.