The Green Hypocrites: Prince Charles and Gordon Brown take separate jets... to lecture the world on global warming
Rebecca English and David Derbyshire
Prince Charles and Gordon Brown were accused last night of ‘green hypocrisy’ after jetting into Copenhagen to lecture the world about global warming.
Charles used the £1,019-an-hour Queen’s Flight so he could deliver a keynote speech to the climate change conference, flying back after less than three hours.
The Prime Minister chartered a 185-seat Airbus to take him and 20 aides to Denmark for their four-day trip.
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Among Mr Brown’s team was his senior adviser on climate change, Michael Jacobs, who was at the summit at the weekend but flew back to London to join his boss on the flight.
By using private planes, both Charles and Mr Brown produced more carbon emissions – which is blamed for global warming – than would have been generated by taking a scheduled flight.
Hampshire-based Carbon Footprint Limited said the prince’s round trip would have produced around 6.4tons of carbon dioxide – 5.2tons more than if he had used a commercial flight.
They also estimated that the amount of CO2 generated by Mr Brown’s flight is likely to be double that of the prince’s.
Last night, a source insisted the Prime Minister’s office ‘couldn’t find enough seats’ on any of the 16 scheduled flights from London yesterday.
A Downing Street spokesman said the carbon produced by Mr Brown’s plane would be ‘offset’.
A spokesman for Charles – who yesterday warned that global warming was a bigger threat to mankind than terrorism and poverty – insisted the prince had no choice but the Queen’s Flight.
The HS 125 twin-engined jet is used by senior members of the Royal Family as well as ministers.
It seats seven and took Charles, plus an entourage of aides and bodyguards.
‘Flying scheduled was not possible due to the need to guarantee arrival on time,’ the spokesman said.
‘A key issue was timings. His Royal Highness had a meeting this morning and there was no British Airways flight after it ended that could get him to Copenhagen in time.'
Prince Charles addressing the UN conference in Copenhagen yesterday
Royal charter: Charles used the £1,019-an-hour Queens Flight to deliver a keynote speech in Copenhagen
Like the Prime Minister, the prince does offset his air travel. The trip will cost him around £70 – the price of planting six trees.
Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker last night accused both the Government and the Prince of ‘green hypocrisy’.
‘It is unbelievable that those who lecture us on climate change set such a poor example,’ he said.
‘Prince Charles, over the last four years, has been travelling the world on a private jet lecturing us about carbon emissions.
‘As for Gordon Brown, I find it astonishing that he and his office could not find scheduled flights to suit them. If not, then maybe they should have followed the example of so many other delegates and gone by train.’
Yesterday, Charles, who was invited to attend the talks by the Danish government, warned leaders they have just seven years to avert a global catastrophe.
‘Reducing poverty, increasing food production, terrorism and sustaining economic development are all vital priorities, but it is increasingly clear how rapid climate change will make them more difficult to address,’ he said.
‘For the grim reality is our planet has reached a point of crisis and we have only seven years before we lose the levers of control