Willing to give up their private jets? These climate change advocates declined to answer

by WorldTribune Staff, December 12, 2018

Businesses, foundations and individuals who often lecture all of Earth’s inhabitants on their carbon footprints and are vocal supporters of the Paris Agreement on global warming lost their voices when asked if they were prepared to give up their CO2-spewing private jets.

Al Gore has been criticized for his enormous home energy usage, which is estimated to be 34 times the average American household. / AP

The Daily Caller News Foundation said it sent out 31 inquiries asking whether giving up flying in luxury aboard private jets was doable.

The Daily Caller noted that the United Nations has called for a $122 trillion restructuring of the global economy to keep global warming within the limits of the Paris accord, “which is likely to fall heavily on working class and poor people who can least afford higher energy costs.”

Most companies and individuals that often tout their “green image” did not respond, The Daily Caller noted in a Dec. 11 report.

The list of non-responders includes:

  • Google
  • Facebook
  • Apple
  • Al Gore
  • Bloomberg Philanthropies
  • Tom Steyer
  • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Leonardo DiCaprio

A 2016 Financial Times investigation into corporate spending on private jets found that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg “billed Facebook for a combined $1.2m of personal flights in 2013 and 2014” making him “one of the top 10 spenders in both years.”

The Daily Caller noted that Apple CEO Tim Cook “is reportedly forced to fly private jets for security reasons, and while Microsoft executives didn’t receive corporate jet perks, co-founder Bill Gates owns a massive private jet, a Bombardier BD-700.”

Michael Bloomberg, who is considering a run for president in 2020, “has a history of making trips to Bermuda and elsewhere aboard his fleet of jets,” the report said.

Bloomberg also owned a $4.5 million, six-seat Agusta SPA A109S helicopter. He kept the machine at the Morristown Municipal Airport in New Jersey with his private planes, The New York Times reported in 2012.

DiCaprio, the Daily Caller noted, “burned more than 17,000 gallons of jet fuel in 2016 during a round trip from France to New York City to accept an environmental award at the Riverkeeper Fishermen’s Ball. DiCaprio flew back one day later to France to attend an AIDS benefit gala.”

Gore told CNN in 2017 he didn’t own a private jet, but in 2013 admitted to “sometimes” chartering a private jet.

“The former vice president has also been criticized for his enormous home energy usage, which is estimated to be 34 times the average American household,” the Daily Caller noted.


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