When the world's political and business leaders drop in for a week of talks and fine dining in the snow-deprived Swiss Alps, bearing ideas for improving the economy, climate and environment, many will arrive on private jets – spewing additional carbon pollution equivalent to what hundreds of thousands of cars produce.
That's based on a new analysis commissioned by Greenpeace International showing 1,040 private jets flew in and out of airports serving the Swiss mountain resort of Davos during last year's World Economic Forum gathering in May, causing CO2 emissions from private jets four times greater than an average week.
The gathering is usually held in January, but was postponed to May last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. WEF billed that meeting as "the starting point for a new era of global responsibility and cooperation." It calls the meeting set for next week as an opportunity to strengthen "cooperation in a fragmented world."
Over 1,000 private jets touched down in airports serving #Davos last year, according to analysis by @Greenpeace and @CEDelft
— Kai Tabacek (@KaiTab) January 13, 2023
One flight was just 21km - and over half of them were short haulhttps://t.co/qrzB43lQo3
Jets used for short-haul trips
Greenpeace said Friday that Dutch consultant CE Delft found the number of private jet flights to and from airports serving Davos doubled during the 2022 meeting compared to average weeks, causing CO2 emissions equivalent to about 350,000 average cars.
The researchers attribute about every second flight to the meeting itself. But they could not be absolutely certain all the flights were related to the Davos meeting because they relied on public flight data that does not explain the flights' purpose.
Most arrive from or departed to Germany, France and Italy. Some 53% of the flights were less than 750 kilometers, a distance cars or trains could have done. Another 38% were less than 500 kilometers. One flight was just 21 kilometers.
