AN MP tasked with tackling the climate emergency has travelled nearly 35,000 miles in just three months.
Alok Sharma is the COP26 minister and has previously said he needed to visit countries in person to press home the dangers of a warming planet. Steps to tackle it include flying less.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has calculated, using public records, his travels, coming to an estimated total of 34,696 air miles.
The Reading West MP is understood to have made six separate trips in his role as the President of the COP26 Climate Conference. These were to Europe, the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific and Latin America.
The first country Mr Sharma officially visited was Egypt, flying into the capital Cairo to develop partnerships to tackle climate change and help organisers prepare for the COP27 conference that will be held this year in Sharm El Sheik.
A flight from London Heathrow to Cairo is 2,197 air miles.
After that, Mr Sharma went to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates To attend Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, with the flight between to two cities weighing in at 1,480 air miles.
Mr Sharma is then understood to have returned to the UK, a 3,432-mile trip.
These visits occurred in January, with Mr Sharma topping the month off by doing a 666-mile round trip to Bonn, in Germany. Here, he attended the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meetings for two days, ending on Wednesday, January 26.
In February, he embarked on a 5,750 mile one-way journey to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, to “drive delivery” on the countries COP26 commitments on a three-day trip.
Following that, he went to Jakarta, the capital to Indonesia, to reflect on its COP26 goals and discuss the nation’s priorities for the G20 presidency, which it will obtain in November.
The flight from Hanoi to Jakarta is estimated at 1,891 air miles.
Mr Sharma is believed to have flown from Jakarta to Munich – 6775 miles – for the International Security conference.
In March, he went on a 1,198-mile round trip to Berlin to meet with leaders to discuss Just ‘Energy Transition Partnerships’.
Mr Sharma did visit Paris to attend the International Energy Agency conference for two days, but here, he used the Euroastar train rather than a plan.
Finally, he went from the UK to Sao Paulo in Brazil, a 5,863-mile journey to agree on implementing the 2021 Glasgow Climate Pact,
During the visit, he also went to the capital Brasilia, from which he returned to the UK, a 5,444-mile journey.
That brings the total countries Mr Sharma visited in Q1 to seven.
The itinerary has been published on the Government website as overseas travel data.
The air miles from the UK have been calculated as flights to and from Heathrow Airport, as no UK airport is made clear in the data.
The Government has been asked to answer for this substantial itinerary, as flights are widely regarded as a significant contributor towards climate change.
A COP26 spokesperson said: “The COP President travels to key countries for face-to-face meetings. This is vital to support climate negotiations and understand first-hand the opportunities and challenges other countries are facing in the fight against climate change.
“The UK is offsetting carbon emissions associated with COP26 presidency travel.”
A response has been sought from Mr Sharma himself, and the Cabinet Office has been asked to detail how his carbon emissions from air travel is being offset.
:
