Hollywood celebrities and business leaders have carbon footprints up to 300 times bigger than the rest of us, a study reveals, highlighting the hypocrisy of those who promote climate change activism while refusing to set foot on a commercial flight.
Rich and famous “super-emitters” are such constant travelers they could also be encouraging others to follow in their slipstream by boasting of their private jet-setting habits on social media, researchers found.
Topping the list of celebrity greenhouse gas super-emitters is Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, with a whopping carbon footprint of more than 1,600 tons of CO2.
This is built in part on his regular attendance at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, with other members of the globalist elite.
Gates took 59 flights in 2017, travelling 213,130 miles, mostly on his private Bombardier BD-700 jet, which he describes as his ‘big splurge’ and which seats 19 passengers.
Second was socialite Paris Hilton, who flew 171,346 miles by various private jets, emitting more than 1,260 tons of CO2 in the process.
Jennifer Lopez flew 139,520 miles, Oprah Winfrey 83,356 miles and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg 65,888 miles. Others in the list include designer Karl Lagerfeld, German footballer Andre Schurrle, web video producer Felix von der Laden and US businesswoman Meg Whitman.
Publishing their findings in the journal Annals of Tourism Research, researchers trawled through the celebrities’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts and media reports to ascertain whether they flew privately or commercially.
Steffan Gossling, the lead author, said the emergence of the concept of flygskam, which is Swedish for “flight shame”, had prompted more questions about the impact of frequent flyers.
He called on governments to “stem the growing class of very affluent people who contribute very significantly to emissions and encourage everyone else to aspire to such damaging lifestyles”.
The study added: “Scheduled air traffic, even though twice as energy-intense in business/first class, requires only a fraction of the energy consumed by private jets.”
Last month Breitbart News reported producer Gavin Polone similarly taking Hollywood bigshots to task over their addiction to private jet travel. He said celebrities and studio executives are guilty of hypocrisy when they promote climate change activism while refusing to fly commercial.
Polone, who produced the recent movie A Dog’s Journey as well as HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, wrote in a column for The Hollywood Reporter saying the entertainment industry is undercutting its own climate change message by relying on the convenience and privacy that these planes afford.
“Nothing is more undermining to the ‘stop climate change’ message than accusations of hypocrisy against the most prominent advocates for environmental responsibility,” Polone wrote.
The article featured photographs of noted environmental and climate change activist Leonardo DiCaprio disembarking from a private jet. Other photos show stars Katy Perry and Dwayne Johnson using private planes.
Hollywood is not alone in its addiction to constant air travel while lecturing others to stay at home.
Members of the British Royal family have also been accused of hypocrisy this past summer, with Prince Harry drawing publicity when he flew to Amsterdam to caution holidaymakers and tourism chiefs about the damage being done to the environment by frequent flyers.
As Breitbart News reported, his speech, promoting the eco-tourism project with Booking.com, Sky Scanner, TripAdvisor and Visa, book-ended a number of trips he took his family on over the summer which at one time saw the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – aka Prince Harry and the former Meghan Markle – taking their four private jet flight in 11 days.
Prince Harry previously said he and his wife will have no more than two children because of the elevated concerns they have for the planet.
“We are the one species on this planet that seems to think that this place belongs to us, and only us,” he revealed in an interview with ethologist Dr Jane Goodall for the September issue of British Vogue.
In August Prince Harry flew by private jet to Sicily to warn an elite audience of business leaders and celebrities gathered at Google’s annual deluxe retreat that immediate action is needed to avoid an approaching climate catastrophe.
More recently Harry and Meghan made a long haul flight to Africa to spread their climate advocacy to a new audience. Baby Archie joined them last month on the 10-day sojurn along with a team of 13 assistants including a “social media officer” and a hairdresser for Markle.
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