UN’s Climate Confab Kicks Off After Study Finds Elites Drive Emissions Flying Private To Swanky Forums

(Wikimedia Commons/Marek Ślusarczyk)

The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP29, began on Monday in Azerbaijan after the publication of a study finding that emissions from private jets spike around well-attended elitist conferences and forums.

Tens of thousands of people have descended upon Baku, the capital city of oil- and gas-rich Azerbaijan, for COP29, though the comeback of President-elect Donald Trump is hanging over the proceedings. Notably, a new paper published in the Communications Earth and Environment journal concluded that well-attended elite confabs like the U.N. climate summits, the Cannes Film Festival and the World Economic Forum produce considerable amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, given the prevalence of travel by private jet for attendees.

“Events can attract hundreds of individual flights, and generate considerable emissions, ranging from 1.5 kt CO₂ (Super Bowl) to 14.7 kt CO₂ (FIFA Qatar),” the study states. “Total emissions from events are higher, as affluent attendees may also use helicopters, or arrive by yacht (Cannes).”

Today, the #COP29Azerbaijan opening plenary and Presidency handover set the stage for transformative discussions on #climateaction. Parties, Constituencies, Observers, and civil society members gathered in Baku to enhance ambition and enable action to make tangible progress in… pic.twitter.com/9WO8cq0HvG

— COP29 Azerbaijan (@COP29_AZ) November 11, 2024

Notably, the researchers who authored the paper also wrote that they observed many of the same private planes making trips to multiple high-profile events in the same year.

“For example, 172 of the 595 aircraft tail numbers appearing at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos also served the Cannes Film Festival, and 65 identical tail numbers were identified at both the WEF and COP28,” the study states. “Of the 404 aircraft at COP28, 96 also appeared at the FIFA World Cup. It is not possible to say whether this means that events are attended by the same individuals, as aircraft are often chartered, though it would be of interest to further investigate travel motivations across political, economic, and cultural dimensions.”

Major topics of discussion for COP29 are expected to include updates to national emissions reduction benchmarks for individual countries and so-called “climate finance” arrangements for poorer countries to be able to pay for green energy projects and other climate-related initiatives, according to CBS News. However, Trump’s return to the presidency has cast an air of uncertainty over the proceedings in Baku, as Trump has pledged to once again pull out of the U.N.’s Paris Climate Accords as he did while first in office.

John Podesta, one of the top climate advisers inside the Biden-Harris administration, delivered a Monday speech to attendees in which he said that America will remain in the global climate change fight despite the likelihood that Trump will upend green policies and programs domestically and internationally, according to Bloomberg News. Failed 2024 presidential candidate Kamala Harris represented the U.S. at last year’s U.N. climate summit in Qatar, and officials including Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack are joining Podesta in attendance for this year’s iteration.