A report resurfaced by a climate activism group, chaired by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, concluded that residents of London and many other European cities should be limited to one return flight every three years in order to to reduce carbon emissions to combat climate change.
C40, “a global network of mayors of the world’s leading cities united in action to tackle the climate crisis”, published a report in 2019 which suggested that residents of C40 cities should be limited to one “round-trip flight short-haul (less than 932 miles) every 2 years per person’, to meet a ‘progressive’ target by 2023 to reduce consumption emissions from aviation.
The think tank’s recommendation of the “ambitious” target by 2030 was one return flight every three years, instead of every two.
The aim of the organization – which includes participation from major capitals around the world such as London, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Istanbul, Berlin, Amsterdam and Copenhagen – is to reduce emissions associated with climate change by 50% in its member cities within a decade to stop global warming.
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Mayor Sadiq Khan speaks at the Climate Ambition Summit at the United Nations on September 20, 2023, in New York. Khan is chairman of the C40 group from 2021. (Kena Betancur/Getty Images)
“If all residents of C40 cities fly less and airlines increase the proportion of sustainable aviation fuel they use, as outlined in the progressive target, cumulative emissions savings of 43% can be achieved,” the report says.
“Given the current global disparity in flying, it is important to note that C40 cities can, on average, increase air travel by 43% compared to 2017 levels if the target is one short-haul flight every two years per person”. the report adds. “However, 46% of C40 city dwellers will need to reduce the number of trips compared to their 2017 levels.”
A recent Daily Telegraph article highlighting the report states: “To put this into context, the C40 cities account for about one 12th of the world’s population. So that’s about 664 million people, about twice the population of the US. “
“One flight per person every three years would reduce aviation industry emissions by more than 43%. It would reduce them to next to nothing,” the agency wrote.
Barceloneta beach in Spain (Zowy Voeten/Getty Images)
“Because there would be no airline industry. Airlines – many of which have barely survived the pandemic – would not be able to remain profitable with such meager passenger numbers. Overseas holidays would consequently disappear, without planes and customers fill those summer packages. leading to massive unemployment from Cascais to Cádiz to Crete,” the Telegraph reported.
A C40 spokesperson responded to Fox News Digital saying, “The report is a general analysis of emissions based on consumption that does not look at any specific C40 city. It is not a blueprint for any city to adopt, but instead is a general analysis and is dependent by individuals to make their own personal lifestyle choices’.
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A passenger looks at a departures board at London’s Heathrow Airport on November 8, 2021. (Anthony Upton/PA via AP)
Neil Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center at the Heritage Foundation, said what Khan and the C40 coalition are proposing for his citizens is “absolutely insane”. This is one of the craziest demands from the environmental lobby we’ve seen in decades. It’s completely, utterly ridiculous,” Gardiner told Fox News Digital in an interview.
Gardiner added that “the fact that C40 is chaired by Sadiq Khan is very important.”
“Because Sadiq Khan, of course, has a long history of flying around the world attending climate summits and logging a lot of miles,” Gardiner noted.
“The level of hypocrisy, of course, coming from this group is absolutely shocking,” Gardiner said.
Khan became chair of C40 in 2021. A spokesman for the mayor of London noted that the report was published “well before Sadiq became chair of C40”.
“The ideas mentioned are not suggestions let alone recommendations, and the Mayor is certainly not suggesting to anyone that they shouldn’t eat meat or that they shouldn’t fly. It’s up to the cities to determine the most effective way to implement them.” the spokesman said.
“Sadiq has set an ambitious target for London to be net zero by 2030 and London is leading the way by insulating homes, electrifying bus and taxi fleets and expanding electric vehicle infrastructure to the extent that our capital has the most public rapid charging points of any European city’.
Just last month, Khan, who is in a race to retain his seat against the Conservative party candidate, traveled to New York to address the United Nations climate summit.
British Airways aircraft are seen at Heathrow Airport on June 13, 2021, in west London.
Susan Hall, who is running against Hahn in the mayoral election in May, questioned how “green” it was for her opponent to travel 7,000 miles to discuss environmental issues, according to a Daily Mail report.
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Climate change think tank C40 wants London and other cities to limit their residents to one return flight every two to three years. (iStock)
Hall accused Khan of “going off to America to lecture everyone” while Londoners were being hit by the “disastrous extension of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). ULEZs are areas that charge cars a daily rate if they don’t meet certain emissions standards.
Khan has championed the much talked about ULEZs.
Gardiner argued that if Khan tried to implement a one-flight-every-three-years rule to combat climate change, most Londoners would find it “absolutely ridiculous” and would prefer their mayor to focus on increasing crime in the city.
An Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) information sign on Brownhill Road in Lewisham, south London, on August 17, 2023. (Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)
“They would prefer to see the mayor of London really deal with real issues for Londoners, including high levels of violent crime and urban decay and so on,” he said.
According to a Sky News report, there have been 79 violent deaths in London so far this year, including 15 teenagers.
Just last week, a 15-year-old girl, Elianne Andam, was stabbed to death on her way to school in south London, leaving the community devastated and shocked. A 17-year-old boy was arrested for the crime.
People take part in a protest against the proposed extension of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) in London. (Victoria Jones/PA Images via Getty Images)
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“I think Sadiq Khan is out of touch with reality,” Gardiner said. “I don’t think this will be taken very seriously by people in London,” he said of the C40 report
“I would say [Khan] he is seen by many Londoners as a very extreme figure and increasingly divorced from reality,” Gardiner said.
Former MEP Nigel Farage took to TikTok to protest the C40 report, saying: “I suggest you join me in telling Sadiq Khan where to go.”
