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VIPs including Jeff Bezos flew to a climate change conference on 400 private jets, sparking fury over the carbon emissions caused

Huileng Tan
Mon, November 1, 2021,

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26.) Alain Jocard/AFP/Getty Images

More than 400 private jets are ferrying over 1,000 VIPs and their staff to the COP26 environment summit in Scotland.

US President Joe Biden, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and other world leaders took private jets to the summit.

Private jets have a "disproportionate impact on the environment," says European campaign group Transport and Environment.

As hundreds of private jets ferry world leaders and top business executives to the United Nations' COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, environmentalists are up in arms over the environmental damage caused by the travel.

Scotland's Sunday Mail, citing aviation sources, reported that more than 400 private jets are expected. They are shuttling over 1,000 VIPs and their staff to the talks - which, according to the conference website, seeks to "bring together world leaders to commit to urgent global climate action."


Prince William: Great minds should save Earth not travel space

During a BBC interview aired on Thursday (October 14), William appeared to criticise Jeff Bezos, the world's richest person, Elon Musk and Briton Richard Branson, whose rival ventures are all vying to usher in a new era of private commercial space travel.

"We need some of the world's greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live," William said of the space race.His comments come after Musk has spoken about missions to Mars, and Bezos described his inaugural space flight in July as part of building a road to space "so that our kids and their kids can build a future".

"We need to do that to solve the problems here on Earth," said Bezos, who on Wednesday celebrated sending Star Trek actor William Shatner into space in his New Shepard spacecraft.Speaking out on green issues has become a major feature of the British royal family, and William, 39, is following in the footsteps of his late grandfather Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth's husband, and his father, Prince Charles.

Charles, the 72-year-old heir to the throne, has for decades called for action to stop climate change and environmental damage, long before the issue became mainstream, often facing ridicule along the way.

"It's been a hard road for him. He's had a really rough ride on that, and I think he's been proven to being well ahead of the curve," William said.In an echo of his father's message earlier this week, William also said the upcoming U.N. Climate Change Conference COP26 summit in Scotland had to deliver.

"We can't have more clever speak, clever words but not enough action," William said.The prince's personal response to the issue has been to create the Earthshot Prize, which aims to find solutions through new technologies or policies to the planet’s biggest environmental problems.

The first five winners, who will each collect 1 million pounds ($1.4 million), will be announced at a ceremony on Sunday (October 17).

US President Joe Biden, along with the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, India, Israel, and Japan, have all traveled to the climate crisis symposium via private jet, according to the Sunday Mail. Amazon's Jeff Bezos also flew in on his $65 million Gulfstream jet, British media reported.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is also planning on returning to London from Scotland on a private jet - running on sustainable fuel, the Guardian reported. His official spokesperson told the British news outlet, "it is important that the Prime Minister is able to move round the country, and obviously we face significant time constraints."

According to the International Council on Clean Transportation, commercial aviation currently accounts for about 2% of global carbon emissions, but that number is set to triple by 2050.

Private jets have a "disproportionate impact on the environment," said European campaign group Transport and Environment. The group noted in a May 2021 report that private planes are five to 14 times more polluting than commercial planes on a per passenger basis, and 50 times more polluting than trains.

"It can't be stressed enough how bad private jets are for the environment, it is the worst way to travel by miles," the group's UK policy manager told Scotland's Sunday Mail. "Private jets are very prestigious but it is difficult to avoid the hypocrisy of using one while claiming to be fighting climate change," he said.