Jacinda Ardern heckled at Global Progress Action Summit in Montreal

Shocking footage has captured the moment Jacinda Ardern was harassed in the street after flying to Canada to attend a climate conference.

The former prime minister of New Zealand, who resigned in January, was on his way to the Global Progress Action Summit in Montreal on Sunday.

Lincoln Jay, videographer for the far-right media outlet Rebel News, then filmed the moment he stopped her on the street to question her carbon footprint.

“How many fossil fuels did you burn coming here to talk about climate change?” he said.

Ms Ardern waves the question away with a smile before walking further away when a security guard steps in to defend her.

Jacinda Ardern has been harassed in Canada by a mischievous reporter who accuses her of hypocrisy for flying 9,000 miles to talk about climate change. Pictured: Ms Ardern at the 2022 APEC Leaders Meeting in Bangkok

“Leave her alone,” the guard said.

“I’m standing on the sidewalk… You can’t touch me, you can’t touch me,” Mr. Jay said.

“Leave the former prime minister alone,” the guard said.

Ms Ardern took part in a panel discussion at the Global Progress Action Summit 2023 in Montreal, a gathering of 14 current and former world leaders including Justin Trudeau, Tony Blair and former Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin.

Mr Jay later posted the clip to his

READ MORE: Jacinda Ardern’s emotional closing speech

Jacinda Ardern shocked New Zealand earlier this year when she announced she was stepping down as prime minister and retiring from politics. She said she no longer had “enough left in the tank.”

Ardern wore a korowai – a traditional Maori feather cloak for her exit speech

Before the summit, Mr. Trudeau posted a video of his reunion with Ms. Ardern before the summit.

“You got my flag (here) and everything,” she tells him before they hug.

Leaders met at the summit on Saturday for “unique high-level discussions on priorities such as economic growth for all, investing in good jobs and tackling climate change.”

They also addressed “renewing confidence in how democracy delivers results for people amid rapid geopolitical shifts around the world.”

It is not known whether Ms Ardern flew from New Zealand to Canada to attend the summit – or whether she was in another country at the time.

A flight from Auckland, where she lives, could have produced 5.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide during the 22-hour flight.

That estimate is based on a commonly used calculation that assumes greenhouse gas emissions of a quarter of a ton of CO2 equivalent per passenger per flight hour.

The route from Auckland to Montreal is often flown by the new model Boeing Dreamliner, which emits between 30 and 50 percent less carbon dioxide than some older aircraft.

A 2022 study found that aviation contributes about four percent of man-made global warming, which is four times Australia’s total annual emissions.

If the entire aviation industry were one country, it would be the sixth largest emitter in the world, behind China, the US, India, Russia and Japan.

The emissions largely come from commercial flights.

In January, Ms Ardern quit as New Zealand’s prime minister and retired from politics at the age of 43, saying she no longer had “enough left in the tank”.

Ms Ardern was guest of honor at the Global Progress Action Summit 2023 in Montreal, a gathering of 14 current and former world leaders, including Justin Trudeau (pictured right), Tony Blair and former Finnish rock star Prime Minister Sanna Marin (second from right).

Before the summit, Trudeau posted a video of his reunion with Ardern before the summit

She was Prime Minister of New Zealand for five years and three months.

In April, Ms Ardern was announced by Prince William as administrator of the Earthshot Prize, an environmental prize.

She was also appointed special envoy for the Christchurch Call, an organization set up to combat online extremism.

She has one child and gave birth to Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford in 2018 while she was Prime Minister.