Rich and Powerful Descend on COP26 Climate Summit in Private Jets, Burning Over 1,000 Tons of CO2

As the COP26 climate conference opened on Monday (1 November), Santa Claus was busy delivering the world’s wealthiest to the summit on their private jets. 118 different business jets flew into Glasgow and Edinburgh airports, emitting over 1,000 tons of CO2 in the process.

The hypocrisy of the 1% arriving to a summit on climate change on something that is contributing to its very cause was not lost on many. Private jets are, by far, the most inefficient way to travel, and the carbon emissions of a single flight between Glasgow and Rome emits roughly six tons of CO2.

The luxury lifestyles of the richest 1% could jeopardize targets to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, according to new research commissioned by Oxfam. Per capita, the richest 80 million people in the world will account for 16% of total emissions globally by 2030, up from 13% in 1990.

The report makes clear that lifestyles themselves have to change. That starts with not flying to a climate conference on a private jet. Santa Claus may have delivered the world’s wealthiest to the COP26 summit, but it’s time for them to take responsibility for their own carbon footprints.