More than 50,000 delegates have arrived in Brazil for the latest COP climate summit - as it emerged the attendees at the last event clocked up a staggering 1,079,000 air miles.
The eye-watering revelation - which equates to nearly 800 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions - comes as heads of state and government touch down in Brazil to thrash out how they can reduce the planet’s carbon footprint.
More than 140 countries have lodged accommodation for their delegations, with both Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Prince William both attending the conference in Belém on behalf of the UK.
Critics of the green summit slammed attendees for lecturing members of the public about their carbon emissions while racking up an obscene amount of air miles to get back and forth from the annual event, which has been hosted all over the world.
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Last year’s COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, attracted delegates from 190 countries, including nearly 500 sent by the British Government at the taxpayers' expense.
GB News has calculated out that these journeys back and forth from all corners of the earth amounted to an astonishing 1,079,000 air miles.
To put that in perspective, that same distance could take you from Earth to the moon a total of nine times.
World leaders are preparing to attend COP30 in Brazil
|GETTY
Put another way, 1,079,000 air miles would be equal to 4,300 trips to the International Space Station.
In more terrestrial terms, the COP jetsetters could have circumnavigated the globe 43 times.
One delegate - who has attended all 30 COP summits - defended the extraordinary travel involved, claiming that the COP meetings couldn't take place over Zoom because of 'unreliable WIFI' and 'challenges with different time zones'.
The vast mileage contrasts with the average British family, who take an average of just 1.7 foreign holidays per year - most commonly to nearby mainland Europe.
The estimates were achieved by analysing the complete list of attendees at COP29, working out flight distance from each nation, and combining the total round-trip air miles.
Political commentator Piers Pottinger blasted the latest climate gathering in Brazil as a "pointless exercise".
Travellers to last year's conference chalked up 1,079,000 air miles in round trips
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He said: "It's an absurd conference, under the auspices of the UN.
"50,000 delegates are flying in and creating a wonderful carbon footprint."
Prime Minister Keir Starmer defended his attendance at COP conferences.
These trips equalled an astonishing nine trips to the moon
|GETTY
The Prime Minister stressed he could achieve big wins for Britain by helping to usher in the green transition.
"Britain isn’t waiting to act – we’re leading the way, as we promised," he declared.
"Clean energy doesn’t just mean energy security, so Putin can’t put his boot on our throat: it means lower bills for working families in every part of the UK," he said.
The charge of hypocrisy comes from a wide range of critics, with the location of this year's summit not lost on local indigenous populations and climate activists.
Cacique (chief) Ninawá Huni Kui, released the following statement: “Brazil is preparing to host COP30 in Belém, in the heart of the Amazon, while approving new oil and gas auctions.
"This is not an energy transition, it’s an energy contradiction.
"It’s incompatible to celebrate climate commitments with one hand while signing off on the expansion of the fossil frontier with the other."
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