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Billionaire Bill Gates claimed he was not part of the problem of private jets polluting the world because of his efforts to offset their carbon emissions.
While sitting down for an interview with the BBC, Gates was pressed on whether or not he was a hypocrite for defending warnings about climate change, while traveling around the world in his hugely polluting private jet.
Gates, who is worth $117 billion, responded by saying he was “not part of the problem” because of the amount of money he pays to Climeworks, a company that, for a monthly fee, offsets carbon emissions.
The Microsoft founder said he was not only “comfortable” with his position, but also promoted his sustainable energy research company Breakthrough Energy.
Gates, who owns at least $227 million in property, is just the latest celebrity to be criticized for climate change one minute, only to jump on his polluting private jet the next.
Bill Gates steps off his private jet after taking a devastating flight. He said that he was not part of the problem.
During the interview, the BBC’s Amol Rajan asked Gates how he responded to people calling him a hypocrite for his jet use.
‘How do you respond to the accusation that if you are a climate change activist, but also travel around the world in a private jet, you are a hypocrite?’ Rajan said.
The billionaire responded by telling how money throws at the problem.
“Well, I buy the gold standard of funding Climeworks to do direct air capture that far exceeds my family’s carbon footprint,” he said.
Gates then went on to talk about all the money he has poured into climate research, and how his work is best done when he visits the places his companies are studying firsthand.
“I spend billions of dollars on climate innovation,” he said. ‘So, you know, should I stay home and not come to Kenya and learn about farming and malaria? Anyway.’
He added that he was “part of the solution.”
“I mean, I’m comfortable with the idea that not only am I not part of the problem, by paying the offsets, but also through the billions that my Breakthrough Energy group is spending, I’m part of the solution. ‘
Gates also touted the research his companies have done to find sustainable energy.
Bill Gates gets off his private jet. Without it, he said, he would not be able to fly to places like Kenya to study climate change.
A single private jet emits as much carbon dioxide in an hour as the average person does in an entire year, with private flights 14 times more polluting (per passenger) than a commercial airliner.
Yet their super-rich owners, many of whom boast about their ostensible green credentials, hop on and off their planes for trips lasting less than 15 minutes.
Celebrities including Taylor Swift, Kylie Jenner, Mark Wahlberg, Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey have been singled out for their outspoken stances on the weather, only to later head out on their jet for a jaunt.
Last June, Spielberg, who previously said he was “terrified” of global warming and asked “everyone” to bear in mind that it could “pose a danger to their children and grandchildren,” crossed the Netherlands on a 17-minute flight. .
The 28-mile journey from Amsterdam Airport to Rotterdam Airport would have taken just 36 minutes by car or an hour by public transportation.
According to CelebrityJets, the flight used 145 gallons of jet fuel, cost him $1,011 for the fuel, and resulted in 2 tons of CO2 emissions.
Meanwhile, Jenner was branded a ‘climate criminal’ for a 12-minute flight across California, shortly after her sister Kourtney Kardashian faced backlash from fans for posting about carbon emissions despite excessive travel. family private planes.
Kim Kardashian owns a Gulfstream G650ER, a swanky version of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk’s planes.
Last summer, Swift was named the ‘CO2-polluting celebrity of the year’ by a study that found her private jet has made a whopping 170 flights between January and July.
The study, published by British digital marketing firm Yard, was based on an analysis of private jet flights tracked by the Celebrity Jets automated flight tracker, and found that Swift’s plane had the most emissions of the package.
Swift, through a representative, responded furiously to the report after facing backlash online from fans, saying she often let other people take her Falcon 7X jet on excursions around the world.
“Taylor’s jet is regularly loaned out to other people,” Swift’s rep told Rolling Stone. “To attribute most or all of these trips to her is flagrantly incorrect.”
Although Swift has remained silent on political and social issues for much of her career, she has become more vocal in recent years, listing climate change as one of her concerns in a 2020 interview with Variety.