GOP Hits Kerry for Jetting to COP28

Once again, the annual COP conference is taking place, and there are roughly 70,000 attendees expected in Dubai for the conference.

As is always the case, there will be hundreds of private jets arriving with attendees for the conference, and Biden’s climate czar, John Kerry, will be among them.

The lavish event will host environmental “experts” to discuss measures that need to be taken to protect the environment against the use of fossil fuels.

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Conservatives and Republicans ask the same question every time this summit takes place… if you are so concerned about the environment, then why does this seem more like a lavish vacation than an actual environmental summit?

To appreciate just how hypocritical John Kerry and this administration are on this front, let’s go back to December 2021 when Biden signed an executive order requiring all departments to monitor travel and report the impact said travel was having on carbon emissions.

To date, the State Department has not been able to release a report on the impact these trips of Kerry’s have, saying that it has not yet developed the mechanism to provide that number.

Yet, they can tell us down to the metric ton how much carbon is emitted from a passenger car.

Since I just mentioned that, the number is 4.6 metric tons of carbon per year.

Now consider that during Kerry’s first 18 months in office, his private jet travel as the climate envoy accumulated about 325 metric tons of carbon emissions, which would amount to 70 years for one person’s vehicle travels.

Imagine the carbon imprint this conference makes every year, with hundreds of private jets flying in for the event.

Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) went ballistic over this, stating, "Once again, the Biden administration exposes the hypocrisy of their own radical green fantasy. Joe Biden’s Climate Czar is jetting off again emitting the greenhouse gases he warns against, wasting taxpayer dollars, and undermining U.S. strength on the world stage.

“While the Biden administration’s weakness has caused chaos across the globe, President Biden doubles down on combating climate change instead of terrorism.

"Just another area where he allows China, the world’s largest polluter, to eat our lunch in lip service to the radical green wing of his own party.

“Make no mistake, virtue signaling is no virtue, and Americans have had enough of an administration with their head in the clouds. It’s time for Biden bureaucrats to face the facts, as terrorists threaten the safety and security of Americans, fossil fuels are not the enemy."

As Ernst hinted in her rant, none of this really matters until China (and India) start reducing their carbon footprints, and that is not happening anytime soon.

Those two countries produce about 40% of global carbon dioxide emissions, so if you cannot get them onboard, you lose this battle regardless of what other countries do.