Is Brexit bad for the environment? Theresa May has the same CO2 output as 126 British or 2,600 Kenyans



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Over the past three years, British Prime Minister Theresa May has traveled the world, to Brussels, Paris, Canada, Japan and many other countries, to meet with European leaders on from a withdrawal and with various world leaders after the Brexit. commercial agreements.

It's a lot of meetings and trips.

Euronews has investigated the extent of Theresa May's carbon footprint during her three years in the government.

Since 2016, she has made approximately 50 Brexit-related trips, including nearly 40 in Europe.

Below you can see the extent of his travels in Europe.

Theresa May traveled for Brexit-related reasons exactly 39 times in the EU, mainly to Brussels to attend discussions on Brexit, but also in countries such as France, Germany, the 39, Italy, Sweden and Poland to meet with representatives of the state.

The PM aircraft, an Airbus A330, consumes about 5.2 tons of fuel per hour, with each ton of fuel emitting 3.15 tons of CO2.

These trips represent an average of fifty hours of travel, which means that his trips have resulted in emissions of about 819 tons of CO2 since 2016.

The CO2 emissions of an average British resident produce about 6.5 tons per year. His travels would therefore be equal to the CO2 emissions of 42 British citizens. British citizens also have very few issuers, so we looked at a country where citizens emit on average a lot less CO2: Kenya. According to figures from a World Bank report, May's trips would equate to 881 Kenyan citizens at the same time.

But this is not the end of the calculation. The Prime Minister also visited Japan and Canada to discuss post-Brexit trade agreements.

Therefore, if we add the number of hours that Theresa May spent on the Airbus A330 for trips to other parts of the world, that's about 100 hours more.

Its emissions would reach up to 2,500 tonnes of CO2 in three years, ie 126 British residents or 2,642 Kenyans.

Below is a representation of PM May's world travels.

Private jets: how the rich contribute to climate change

Each flight of Theresa May costs thousands of pounds. Some, like his trips to Cape Town, Nigeria and Kenya, cost more than 100,000 pounds.

Private jets are reserved for those who can afford it, and Andrew Murphy, head of aviation at the European federation of NGO Transport and Environment, says that there is increased use of jets private sector, which can have a significant impact on the environment.

"The more private jets there are, the greater the impact on the environment, and there has been an increase in the number of private jets in recent years, and for a variety of reasons: global inequality, richness and wealth. Make and buy more toys, for example. "

"Private jet aircraft would have a greater environmental impact than commercial flights, simply because the climatic impact of a flight is the amount of fuel consumed on a flight, divided by the number of pbadengers. Private jet aircraft, by their nature, have fewer pbadengers, and as a result, emissions will be higher per pbadenger, "he said.

Murphy explains that there are still unique circumstances for which a person must use a private jet, but that everyone, including government officials, should not take the plane unless it is necessary.

"Heads of government may have a particular reason that might not apply to business leaders." But all things being equal, the right starting point for reducing aviation emissions is if you do not have to fly, do not fly.This can sometimes be the case of European leaders and business leaders.The most obvious example would be the London Eurostar in Brussels Theresa May goes every time she goes to Brussels to attend meetings at Brexit, where she could take the train. "

Private jets exempt from environmental measures

What distinguishes Theresa May's private jet flights for business leaders is that they can sometimes be captured by certain environmental measures, such as the European Emissions Trading Scheme.

"Technically speaking, the planes of Theresa May, Angela Merkel and Donald Trump are not private jets, they are military flights, so it's under military broadcast, and that's a bad thing because they can be exempt from environmental measures, "adds Murphy.

This is the case, for example, with EDF, the Environmental Defense Fund.

Other types of measures have also been criticized for their non-application to private jets, such as "Corsia", a measure of the United Nations to control the CO2 emissions of airlines voted in 2016.

Corsia's requirements will only apply to airplanes with international emissions above 10,000 tonnes CO2, which means that most private jets in the world are exempt.

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