COP26: What is the climate impact of private aircrafts? Reality Check team
BBC News Published 6 hours ago
Image source, Alamy
Critics have been levelled at the large number of world leaders and other delegates that flew in private jets to attend the COP26 summit.
What environmental damage does this cause? Did leaders have any choice?
How many private planes have flown to Glasgow?
Prestwick Airport, South Ayrshire has been attracting a wide variety of planes to its skies for plane spotters.
It's not just those who ferry the leaders, but cargo planes have also arrived to transport helicopters and other vehicles for motorcades.
For example, we know that President Biden carries one of his armoured vehicles known as "The Beast" with him in Glasgow. On Sunday, he also had one in Rome.
FlightRadar24 tracks flights and has examined the number of noncommercial flights into Edinburgh, Prestwick, and Glasgow airports since 27 Oct.
It found that there were 182 of these flights, almost double the number for the six previous days. This excludes national chartered flights like President Biden's Air Force One.
Cirium, an aviation analytics company, told BBC that there were 76 flights involving private planes or VIP flights arriving in and around Glasgow over the four days preceding 1 November.
Private jets also fly from Glasgow Airport in Paisley where they drop off passengers to Glasgow Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire where they park - an approximate distance of 41km.
What is the carbon footprint for private jet travel?
From burning fuel, flights produce greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide (CO2) from the combustion of fuel. They contribute to global warming.
The emissions per kilometre traveled are significantly higher than other forms of transport.
This can vary depending on the size of the aircraft, occupancy levels, and efficiency. Commercial flights produce far less emissions than private jets.
There are many private jet models, but the Cessna Citation XLS – which is consistently the most popular - uses 189 gallons (857 litres of aviation fuel per hour).
Consider the journey from Rome via Glasgow by private jet. This journey was made by some G20 leaders to reach COP 26, and would take approximately two hours 45 minutes. It would require 2,356 litres jet fuel.
According to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, 2.52kg of carbon dioxide are emitted for each litre of aviation fuel. This flight would therefore produce 5.9 tonnes CO2.
BEIS suggests that CO2 emissions figures be multiplied with 1.9 to account for the non-CO2 emissions from planes at high altitudes. Scientists believe this will increase the warming effect.
The total CO2 equivalent for this flight would therefore be 11.3 tonnes. With a maximum capacity of nine passengers, each passenger would have to contribute 1.2 tonnes for their journey.
However, if our world leaders had chosen to fly a commercial flight between Rome and Glasgow, their emissions would have been 25% of a tonne. A commercial flight can fly more people per hour than a private plane, so it emits less fuel per person.
No matter how many passengers you have, takeoff and landing require a lot of fuel. "So a polluting mode of transport (commercial air travel) is made worse by private jets," said Dr Debbie Hopkins, a specialist in decarbonising transport at the University of Oxford.
Why did they need to meet in person?
The US President Joe Biden hosted an April virtual climate summit for world leaders. Some commitments were made at this summit.
Many have spoken at the summit about the importance of meeting face-to-face.
President of Sierra Leone stated that he had traveled extensively to be there. We are talking about the challenges and the environment in Sierra Leone. How will they know if I'm not here?
Liz Truss, UK Foreign Secretary, stated that face-to-face meetings were necessary for "crunch negotiations".
Why was the G20 in Rome?
On social media, another question is being raised: Why was the G20 meeting in Rome just before COP26?
The G20 is a group that includes large economies and the European Union.
Each year the summit is hosted by the country that holds the rotating presidency.
If COP26 was held in November 2020 as originally planned, it would have been immediately followed by the G20 summit at Riyadh (Saudi Arabia).
Updated 3 November: This piece has been updated to convert US gallons into UK gallons, in the case of the Cessna plane.
The basics of the COP26 climate summit
