David Cameron and UK ministers criticised for flying to Paris climate talks
In light of this, one is led to wonder about the carbon footprint of this personal jet Cameron has bought for himself – Air Pork One, or SleazyJet.
The claim by the government spokeswoman, that they used the most efficient and cost-effective modes of transport, simply means the plan was fast and cheap. If Cameron is basing his policies on that, we’ll all be living on a cinder in a few years.
The prime minister and cabinet members have come under fire for flying to the Paris climate change talks, rather than taking the more environmentally friendly Eurostar.
BusinessGreen understands David Cameron and energy and climate change secretary Amber Rudd flew the short trip to the opening day of the talks last Monday.
International development secretary Justine Greening and her team also took a flight for her short trip to the COP21 talks on Saturday
According to Eurostar, a short haul return flight from Heathrow to Charles de Gaulle airport emits 122 kg of CO2 per person, which is the equivalent of charging 740 iPods. The carbon footprint of making the short haul flight is said to be 11 times more than the 10.9 kg CO2 emitted per Eurostar passenger travelling from St Pancras to the centre of Paris.
Craig Bennett of Friends of the Earth accused ministers of hypocrisy over the decision to fly and the spate of recent green policy reversals.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) said ministers attending the summit used “the most efficient and cost effective modes of transport available”.
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When Cameron tells the nation we must live within our means, he is of course referring to the rest of us who have not had an 11% pay rise, have not been rewarded by a cut in the number of years we must work to earn our pensions and cannot afford quickies across to the Continent in a jet. Since introducing his austerity measures 20 million of us are worse off than we were in 2009/10 – but take heart ‘cos we’re all in this together. While the rest of us are devoutly putting our food in the grey bins and our plastics etc. in our green bins, our garden waste in the brown bin, Dave is jetting off in the most “inefficient, expensive modes of transport available”. He really is so full of s**t.
They are having a laugh at our expense and those of our grandchildren. Cameron is a hypocrite in the Stellar Class of hypocrites. I feel physically sick every time I see his smug mug on TV or blog posts spouting lies about just about everything. I beginning to hate him more than than the Witch Thatcher. Never believed that would be possible!
Flying to Paris? You can tell how seriously these clowns take climate change.
What’s wrong with video conferencing?