INHFA: COP30 seen as 'enormous gravy train' by ordinary people
With the United Nations Climate Conference - known as COP30 - set to kick off next week, the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers' Association (INHFA) has slammed the event as a "masterclass in hypocrisy".
The organisation's president, Pheilim Molloy, questioned the merit of addressing the issue of climate change by holding an event that some 50,000 people will attend, most of whom will have to fly into Brazil for the event.
"It is incredible to think that those attending cannot see the blatant hypocrisy of flying into Brazil to discuss how to reduce carbon emissions," Molloy said.
He claimed that flights from Europe to Brazil emit an average carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) of around 2t per passenger for a one-way flight, a figure he based on emissions for flights from London to Rio de Janeiro of 1.8-2.3t per passenger.
"Of course there are many who will travel further and a good number will not be taking an economy flight," he said.
The INHFA president claimed that, if 40,000 of the delegates fly into Brazil for COP30, and if return flights are included, this would work out at around 160,000t of CO2e.
"While there are those that will defend this, for the ordinary person that could be struggling to keep ahead of rising costs, often driven by increased carbon tax, these conferences are seen as nothing more than an enormous gravy-train populated by people detached from reality," Molloy claimed.
He also drew attention to reports that a new motorway has been constructed just for the event, which is taking place in the city of Belem, located in the Amazon rainforest.
He said that development of the motorway is "at odds with what most people would see as good environmental policy and opens the door for additional and justifiable ridicule for all those delegates and heads of state attending the summit".
"Here in Ireland, we continually see many of our politicians and environmental campaigners push the narrative that we are not doing enough on climate change and biodiversity loss.
"There is also a huge issue as 56% of the world's polluters will not sign up to reducing greenhouse gases," Molloy added.
"As we look at the destruction of possibly the most important forest in the world in order to facilitate a discussion on climate change, how many politicians and environmentalists have called this out, but even more concerning, how many are willing to ignore it and attend this year's event?" he asked.
