Philanthropist and multi-billionaire Bill Gates is regularly accused from many quarters of being hypocritical. The world’s richest climate activist is in the habit of traveling around by private plane, which produces far more CO₂ emissions per passenger than a normal scheduled plane does.
Are we to believe the overview on the website of Private Jet Charter, Gates owns a total of four private planes, one seaplane and one helicopter. However, this has not been confirmed.
Recently, Gates was confronted with the hypocrite label in an in-depth interview with BBC.
– What do you say to the accusation that if you are a climate activist and at the same time travel around the world in a private plane, then you are a hypocrite? asks journalist Amol Rajan in the BBC interview.
– Well I’m buying the gold standard, to finance Climeworks, to do direct capture in the air that far exceeds my family’s carbon footprint, Gates replies.
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– I spend billions
Climeworks is a company that offers carbon capture and storage to individuals. Gates then argues that his huge investments in clean energy, as well as other environmental and public health projects, justify the private flights.
– I spend billions of dollars on climate innovation. So you know, I’d rather stay home than go to Kenya to learn about agriculture and malaria? Gates asks rhetorically.
– I am comfortable with the idea that I am not part of the problem, as I pay for the emissions, while through the billions that my fund Breakthrough Energy uses, I am part of the solution, says Gates.
In 2021, the Gates Foundation Breakthrough Energy committed to finance various climate projects with 1.5 billion dollars over a three-year period.
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Emissions from private aircraft
Riches who use private planes have for some time been heavily criticized by climate activists. Last month, the challenges of climate change were the main topic at the World Economic Forum (WEF) summit held in Davos, Switzerland.
According to a estimate corresponded to the emissions from all the private planes that flew to and from the Davos summit, as much CO₂ emissions as if 350,000 petrol cars were to be driven on the road for a week.
Private aircraft have a significant climate footprint
An increase in private aircraft consumption is not good news for the climate. According to some estimates, private planes pollute about 20 times as much CO₂ per passenger and per mile as commercial planes, wrote The Guardian in 2021 and referred to figures from the industry in 2021.
In a new one rapport published in May 2021, “Private jets: can The super-rich supercharge zero emission aviation?”, it is estimated that private jets are between 5 and 14 times more polluting than commercial aircraft per passenger, and 50 times more polluting than trains.
The same report estimates that one hour’s flight by private plane produces a CO₂ emission of two tonnes. On average, an EU citizen emits 8.2 tonnes of CO₂ a year. A four-hour trip by private plane thus corresponds to the same amount as an entire year’s CO₂ emissions for an average EU citizen.
