As world leaders descend on
Cornwall for the first in-person
G7 summit in almost two years, the Carbis Bay Hotel hosting the talks is facing criticism over its decision to cut down trees in order to build new meeting rooms in which the planet’s environmental future will be under discussion.
With events set to get underway on Friday, UK prime minister
Boris Johnson is also already attracting negative headlines after
making his journey to Newquay by plane.
“I’ve arrived in Cornwall for this year’s G7 where I’ll be asking my fellow leaders to rise to the challenge of beating the pandemic and building back better, fairer and greener,”
Mr Johnson tweeted after jetting in from Stansted, including a photograph of himself giving a thumbs-up as he descended the steps from the cabin.
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By his government’s own admission, flying creates almost five times more
greenhouse gas emissions than the equivalent train journey.
But Mr Johnson was apparently ready for the criticism - which his Labour counterpart Sir Keir Starmer also attracted after
flying to Edinburgh to promote his party’s green agenda during campaigning for last month’s local elections - telling a member of the press: “If you attack my arrival by plane, I respectfully point out that the UK is actually in the lead in developing sustainable aviation fuel.”