PLYMOUTH: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is being criticised for flying to the Group of Seven summit meeting in Cornwall, rather than taking the train, as he presses world leaders to do more to fight global warming.
Environmental activists bombarded Johnson’s Twitter feed with suggestions that the prime minister should practice what he preaches after he posted a photo of himself climbing off the plane accompanied by a call to make the world “better, fairer and greener.” “This is how serious Boris Johnson is about combating the climate emergency: He flew to Cornwall,” Zarah Sultana, a lawmaker from the opposition Labour Party, tweeted in response.
According to figures posted on the U.K.
government website, domestic flights generate about six times more greenhouse gases than rail travel.
A train journey to Cornwall takes about five hours, compared with less than 90 minutes for a flight.
Johnson is hosting leaders from the world’s seven richest democracies during this weekend’s summit at the Carbis Bay resort in Cornwall.
The agenda includes talks on climate change, the global response to Covid-19 and the taxation of multinational corporations.