WEF organizers face annual criticism over the emissions caused by the event. (agent)
Paris:
Environmental lobby group Greenpeace accused attendees of the annual Davos meeting on Friday of a “disgusting masterclass in hypocrisy” over the use of private jets to travel to the event in the Swiss Alps.
Ahead of the 2023 edition of the World Economic Forum (WEF) next week, the NGO said it had commissioned research which showed that last year attendees took nearly 500 private flights from airports near particular ski resorts .
Organizers have again promised to make climate change one of the central themes of this year’s summit, while also making efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of the meeting and encouraging VIP guests to take public transport.
“Given that 80% of the world’s population has never even flown but suffers from the consequences of climate-damaging aviation emissions, and that the WEF claims to be committed to the 1.5°C Paris climate target, this annual private jet Bonanza is a distasteful masterclass in hypocrisy,” Clara Maria Schenk, Greenpeace’s transport campaigner, said in a statement.
The group said its research, carried out by Dutch environmental consultant CE Delft, analyzed flight records from airports near Davos during the week of the World Economic Forum last year and compared them with the weeks before and after.
“During the week of last year’s World Economic Forum, 1,040 private jet flights arrived and departed from airports serving the Swiss luxury ski resort of Davos, with every second flight accounted for by the meeting,” it said.
One flight was only for 21 kilometers (13 mi) while most originated from France, Germany and Italy.
Greenpeace said the flights generate emissions equivalent to about 350,000 average cars a week.
WEF organizers face annual criticism over the emissions caused by the event, which sees policymakers, CEOs, academics and journalists as well as an army of caterers and support staff head to the alpine village.
Since 2017, the Forum offsets its emissions every year, and has a sustainability policy that encourages electric vehicles, seasonal produce for food, and recycling.
The use of private jets by corporate owners has come under renewed scrutiny in recent years, thanks to Twitter accounts that track the flights of planes used by high-profile CEOs.
One of US billionaire Elon Musk’s first actions after taking over Twitter was to order the @elonjet account suspended following his plane, on the grounds that it represented a security threat.
AFP contacted WEF for comment.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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