Government flights caused 308 million tons of CO2

Government flights to the world climate summit caused 308 million tons of CO2

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) arrives at the airport in Sharm El Sheikh for the COP27 world climate conference.

The German government traveled to Egypt with large delegations to the COP27 world climate summit. The emissions emitted are huge, although some employees also took civilian flights. All emissions should be offset, says the Foreign Office.

Berlin. For return flights related to the World climate conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt Members of the federal government and their employees have emitted around 308 million tons of carbon dioxide.

This emerges from a recent written response from the Federal Foreign Office to a question from former AfD MP Joana Cotar, which is available to the German Press Agency. The climate conference took place from November 6th to 18th in the Egyptian seaside resort.

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As reported by the Federal Foreign Office, the emissions mentioned include all flights that occurred in the context of the federal government’s participation in the conference. According to the information, this includes flights with three machines from the Ministry of Defense’s flight readiness service as well as arrivals and departures of government members and their employees with civilian flights. Also included is the carbon footprint of onward flights to other countries, for example to park the machines therehave caused.

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Ministry of Foreign Affairs points to CO2 offsetting

The Foreign Ministry emphasizes that “for all CO2 emissions caused by official trips by the Federal Government” a corresponding compensation will be arranged via the Federal Environment Agency.

As members of the federal government, who would have used the three aircraft used for flight readiness, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) and Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) and their accompanying employees. Other government officials, including escorts, used civilian flights to travel there and back, it said.

Cotar, a member of the Bundestag who recently resigned from the AfD – now without a faction – accused the traffic light government of “gimmicky tricks”. “The federal government generated so much CO2 with the flights to the climate conference alone that an average German could drive a car for 150 years,” Cotar told the German Press Agency. “In times of video conferences, that’s absurd and a huge waste of tax money.” Germany needs “a rational Realpolitik, no actionist climate madness,” she explained.

RND/dpa

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