BILLIONAIRE climate activists Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates have been branded Cop26 hypocrites for partying on superyachts in the run-up to the planet-saving summit — then flying to it by private jet.
Microsoft founder Mr Gates landed in Glasgow after chilling on £1.5million-a-week rental boat Lana, which pumps out up to 7,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year. He had chartered a fleet of helicopters to ferry guests from the yacht moored in the Med to his 66th birthday bash on the Turkish coast on Friday.
Amazon guru Mr Bezos (pictured above) took a 120-mile helicopter round trip from his £290million boat Flying Fox to his pal’s party before jetting 2,000 miles to Cop26 on his £48million Gulf Stream plane. Some 400 of the world’s elite have travelled by private jet.
US president Joe Biden arrived in a 26-vehicle motorcade from Edinburgh — later appearing to doze off during initial speeches as the United Nations climate change conference kicked off.
Mr Biden (below) is said to have emitted nearly 1,000 tons of carbon as his entourage attended the G20 summit in Rome and a convoy of 85 vehicles took him to meet the Pope.
Fifty-two private jets carrying the world’s business and political elite landed within a few hours at Glasgow on Sunday — including some from London as well as delegations from countries across Africa, royal families from the Middle East and Monaco, and a jet from Russia.
There were so many, some had to drop passengers then fly 37 miles to Prestwick airport to park.
Prime minister Boris Johnson arrived from Rome on a charter flight before comparing delegates to James Bond ‘desperately trying to work out which coloured wire to pull as a red digital clock ticks down to a detonation that will end human life as we know it’.
After landing, Mr Bezos, 57 — also criticised for his trip into space in July — tweeted he had met Prince Charles, adding: ‘Looking for solutions to heal our world, and how the Bezos Earth Fund can help.’
Mr Bezos — the world’s richest man with a £130billion fortune — is due to announce a new pledge of £73million for land restoration in Africa.
Philanthropist Mr Gates, 66 — worth £90billion — is author of How To Avoid A Climate Disaster and has launched a partnership with the EU to coincide with the start of the summit.
But both were yesterday accused of ‘greenwashing’ the damage their empires cause — and of undermining the chance of success for the summit. The UN yesterday warned failure would be a ‘death sentence’ for millions.
‘Sorry, why should we be bothered to do anything when Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos use helicopters and private yachts guzzling tons of petrol to get to Cop26 to discuss climate change?’ tweeted actress Maja Bloom. ‘I don’t even have words.’
Scientist Reiner Grishammer said: ‘The horrendous energy waster Bill Gates makes his contribution to CO2 reduction for his 66th birthday by having his fat body transported by his own yacht and then by helicopter.’
Costa Rican climate group La Ruta del Clima tweeted: ‘Pretty indicative that a third of Pacific island nations will not be able to send a delegate to Cop26 but Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates can just walk in. This isn’t the people’s Cop. This is the Cop of the elites!’
Climate scientist Nicolas Bousserez posted: ‘Quite fascinating that takes on the climate crisis and possible solutions from a software engineer like Bill Gates get so much attention.
Tells us a lot about our society and media. Ask the experts, scientists, economists!’ Twitter user JoJoGizmo said: ‘These are the people who want you to take the bus to work and make other sacrifices for climate change.’
Another said: ‘These are the people putting us in our place and lecturing us about the so-called “climate crisis”. I don’t care how rich you are, none of those things are a necessity.’
An extract from https://edition.metro.news/content/20211102.am/htmlpages/2631198.html