Climate group Greenpeace International issued a scathing statement criticizing virtue-signaling elites who used private jets to travel to Davos for the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The analysis, commissioned by Greenpeace and environmental research firm CE Delft, showed during the 2022 WEF summit there was a dramatic increase in short-distance private jet flights to airports near Davos. The study was released just days before the 2023 summit kicked off. During the 2022 WEF conference there were 1,040 private jet flights recorded as having arrived and departed seven airstrips near the conference, according to the study. Greenpeace estimates nearly half of all the private jet flights were used by conference participants.
“Europe is experiencing the warmest January days ever recorded and communities around the world are grappling with extreme weather events supercharged by the climate crisis,” transport campaigner for Greenpeace’s European mobility campaign, Klara Maria Schenk, said in a statement. “Meanwhile, the rich and powerful flock to Davos in ultra-polluting, socially inequitable private jets to discuss climate and inequality behind closed doors.” (RELATED: ‘In Harmony With Nature’: Davos Speaker Touts Cities Where People Don’t Own Cars, Have A ‘Sustainable Lifestyle’)
“While the climate crisis results in more droughts to hit the African continent, food prices are soaring, and floods and heatwaves wreak havoc in our cities, the people in private jets remain insulated from these impacts.” – @Melita_Steele#BanPrivateJets #FightInequality#Davos https://t.co/WCMgXNDRAI
— Greenpeace (@Greenpeace) January 16, 2023
“Davos has a perfectly adequate railway station, still these people can’t even be bothered to take the train for a trip as short as 21km. Do we really believe that these are the people to solve the problems the world faces?”
The forum kicked off Monday and includes big names such as members of Congress, Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, FBI Director Christopher Wray and climate envoy John Kerry.