Sometimes it takes a little gas to try to stop more gas.
That was the logic of the Biden administration, which flew more than 400 government officials to two U.N. climate change conferences in Scotland and Egypt, spewing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
The Government Accountability Office says the Biden team flew at least 192 people to the annual global warming talks in 2021, held in Scotland, and 260 people to the talks last year in Egypt. The result: a dirtier planet, at least in the near term.
GAO was not able to calculate the exact carbon footprint of the U.S. delegation, though it did say the State Department’s 66 employees who flew from Washington to Egypt for last year’s COP27 accounted for 85.7 metric tons. That’s like running about 18 cars for a typical year’s worth of use.
The U.N., which organizes the conference, said travel accounts for nearly three-quarters of all greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the annual conference.
Republican senators requested the audit.
Sen. Joni Ernst, Iowa Republican and one of those lawmakers, said Thursday that she would introduce a bill to require future calculations of greenhouse gas emissions attributable to John Kerry, the U.S. special presidential envoy for climate, and the rest of the travelers.
“The gas is always greener when you’re burning fossil fuels in the name of saving the planet,” she said. “The double standard is clear, and Americans have had enough of this hot air.”
The lawmakers said the heavy U.S. attendance was all the more galling because it appears to fly in the face of President Biden’s 2021 executive order directing agencies to track and reduce emissions from travel, or what’s known as “scope 3” emissions.
“In the Biden administration, the same people who are closing down power plants across the country and forcing Americans to buy electric vehicles are also the ones flying to climate conferences and using fossil fuels without apology,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia Republican.
Mr. Kerry, the White House climate czar, was a particularly large part of the U.S. delegation’s footprint. The GAO said he brought 32 others with him to last year’s conference in Egypt, most as “advisers.”
Indeed, of the 260 people GAO says the administration sent, 199 were “advisers.”
The total also doesn’t include the 14 members of Congress and 62 congressional staffers, 10 state and local government officials, and 15 nongovernmental advisers, GAO said.
The numbers include just those who were credentialed to attend the conference. It doesn’t include support personnel such as the president’s security detail.
GAO ran its report by the State Department, which defended the flights.
The department told investigators that the U.S. had to send a large emissions-spewing delegation to show it is serious about cutting emissions.
The department said there is no substitute for being on site because informal meetings are where deals are made. That can’t be replicated through virtual meetings.
The department said whatever emissions resulted from all the travel paled in comparison with the commitments other nations made at the U.N. confabs to reduce emissions.
Even defenders of the gathering said it’s time to think about sending a “digital delegation” because online attendance has less than 1% of the carbon footprint of a traveler to the conference.
Ms. Ernst suggested that the entire conference could be reduced to an email.
She said she was slapping Mr. Kerry with her monthly “Squeal Award,” which she uses to highlight ridiculous government spending.
The GAO issued one recommendation in its report to the State Department. It urged the department to find a way to measure the delegation’s carbon footprint at U.N. climate gatherings.
The department said it wanted to go bigger and estimated the footprint for all its travel.
Still, the State Department acknowledged that it doesn’t yet have a way to do that.
It said figuring out other agencies’ travel footprints will be even tougher because employees make their own arrangements.
The department also said it is searching for ways to cut emissions for all travel, including by urging the use of direct flights or trains.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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