Egypt One of the most important countries in the world in these last days, as it is getting leaders from all over the world to discuss it. United Nations Climate Summit (COP27), This annual event seeks to find compromises and solutions to fight against Climate changeHe faces the biggest paradox of all: the vast majority The leaders have gone to the airport Sharm El SheikhAlong with the official planes of the city where it is being held.
Nice way to start a program dedicated to finding ways to reduce pollution. An hour-long flight is estimated to give an idea of how harmful it is to the environment. A government official’s presidential plane or private jet emits approximately two tons of CO2. produces, So, if we take as an example a flight between Bogota and Cairo, which has a distance of 11,160 kilometers and a duration of about 20 hours, CO2 production will be around 40 tonnes.
As far as that goes, arriving by commercial aircraft would have been a far more ecological solution. According to European Environment Agency, a commercial aircraft emits approximately 285 grams of CO2 per passenger and kilometer. For example, if we take an Airbus A330, in which about 250 people travel from Bogota to Cairo, about 801 tons of carbon dioxide is being produced. It’s still outrageous, but in proportion it’s very low. The total cost of a commercial flight of these characteristics would be about three tonnes of CO2 per person, while the private jet has 40 tonnes to be distributed among private flight tickets.
Taking these calculations as a reference, it is common to question what is the use of creating a summit of this depth if it is necessary to incur such a high environmental toll.
The only political leader who hasn’t arrived by private jet john kerryUnited States Special Envoy. Joe Biden left to travel EgyptMaybe because the North American country held midterm elections this week, so Kerry He ended up being in charge of going on appointment. The special envoy stopped using the aircraft VIP Arrived via a commercial aircraft from and from the North American Air Force Arab Emirates,
However, the decision to go with a commercial flight corresponded more to an act of his own publicity, as he had been disputed some time ago when he was in Iceland with a private jet to preside over negotiations to receive the Arctic Circle award. Went for. Paris climate agreement. The press asked him about it, and Kerry replied that “it was the only option for someone like me who travels the world to win this fight.” An invalid argument, as it could have come the same way with a commercial aircraft.
Also curious who is sponsoring the event: Coke, The organization was appointed by the multinational free from plastic As one of the plastic polluting companies for the fourth year in a row. Every year 11 million metric tons of plastic waste end up in the oceans, but this isn’t the only problem with plastics: we also have to add to the whole process that goes into manufacturing it.
Plastic is made from fossil fuels which are extracted from the earth and which are refined in facilities that feed on water and energy to carry out this transformation process. According to the Beyond Plastics report produced in 2021, if the plastics industry were a country, it would be The fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
It is good to hold climate summits looking for ways to tackle climate change, and it is essential if we want to reduce the damage to the planet. However, when the means of transportation are extremely polluting and when the main sponsor is one of the most polluting companies on the planet, the discourse comes under its own weight.
