COP30 delegate’s carbon footprints

COP28 in Dubai was attended by 83,884 participants the majority of whom arrived by air. For some reason everyone wanted to be there – I wonder why !

However the decision to hold COP30 in the Amazonian city of Belém  makes hosting them rather more difficult because there are  only 18,000 hotel beds, although  alternative accommodation will be still be available.  Of course the vast majority will all  arrive by air ! Tens of thousands of people predicted to attend, most participants appear undeterred by the remote location, but the limited supply of beds has caused prices to surge.

What will be their Carbon Footprint ?

I estimate that the average CO2 emissions for a long haul flight is around 1.5 Metric tones per passenger, assuming the average flight distance is 6000 miles.

A conservative estimate  then of the Net carbon emissions of COP 30 would therefore be

70000 * 1.5 *2  = 440000 tons tons of CO2 !

Because of course there are the private jets (Ed Miliband went there twice!) So we can roughly double net emissions. This can be compared to the estimated annual anthropogenic global CO2 emissions which are estimated by the same people to be 20 Billion tons CO2

So during COP 30 the Jet Set delegates can’t  really breath freely and  get away with their 5 star living  because during that week of conference extra CO2 produced will increase emissions by a few % of the global CO2 emissions during that week

However don’t let them lecture you on what you should do to cut your carbon emissions until they comply as well !  Remember this is COP30 so net emissions are a factor 30 higher !