In response to reports that next week Boris Johnson will travel to Seoul for the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit, stay for one day and use an airline that flies via Dubai, Jenny Jones is calling on the Mayor to think more carefully about his own use of resources.
"If London is going to pay for the Mayor to fly to a conference so far away the least we can expect is that he spend enough time at the conference to learn something, and that he considers the environmental impact of his travel options.
"This is an opportunity for Boris to discuss innovative ways to reduce London’s contribution to climate change with mayors from other cities. However, Boris is doing little more than flying in to give a speech and flying out a short while later, which begs the question, why couldn’t he save money, and carbon emissions, by doing his speech via videolink?
"Boris has also taken the decision to waste time and fuel by taking an indirect flight via Dubai, travelling more than 2000 extra miles and using enough extra fuel to drive from John O’Groats to Land’s End 5 times."
ENDS
By flying via Dubai, instead of direct from Heathrow, Boris emitted an extra 1.17 tonnes of CO2. This is the same as driving a Ford Focus car 4625 miles. Figures calculated using JP Morgan Climate Care carbon offset calculator http://www.jpmorganclimatecare.com/
Direct flights are available from London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt to Seoul
The C40 summit is a 4-day event, running from 18th – 21st May