Sir Sadiq Khan could fly to the moon and back with the amount of air miles he has amassed in attending international climate summits and overseas events.
The London Mayor’s international travel expenses indicate that he has flown more than 73,000 miles across the past eight years.
The team behind Sir Sadiq, who is the man who orchestrated London’s ultra low emission zone (Ulez) expansion, has flown 473,000 air miles.
It has produced a total of 43.6 tonnes of carbon through 13 flights, according to The Telegraph.
The distance is equivalent of flying 19 times around the Earth’s circumference at the equator – or even just less than one trip to the moon and back.
His officer has purchased at least 70 seats on international flights in total.
One trip included a group of eight who accompanied Sir Sadiq to New York last September.
He was there as co-Chair of C40 Cities at an international climate conference.
The London Mayor and his team have flown 473,000 air miles over the past eight years
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Data from 2023-2024 has revealed that Sir Sadiq had 23 members of staff with him on four trips to events in New York, Paris and Rome.
Two of those events were climate related.
Other trips included flying to India and Pakistan in 2017 with seven staff members.
That cost almost £27,000 and racked up more than 66,000 air miles.
Sir Sadiq Khan speaking at the event in New York last September
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The London Mayor also made a trip to Canada and the US with a team of seven in 2016.
It cost more than £32,000 and amassed more than 56,000 air miles.
In a bid to offset his total carbon footprint for these flights, Sir Sadiq would be required to plant between 1,350 and 2,000 trees within a year.
The trips have produced as much carbon dioxide as half the trees in Hyde Park photosynthesise over the year.
It comes as the London Mayor remained “opposed to a new runway at Heathrow Airport”, saying it would severely impact “meeting our climate change targets” as well as noise and air pollution.
“I’m simply not convinced that you can have hundreds of thousands of additional flights at Heathrow every year without a hugely damaging impact on our environment,” Sir Sadiq said.
Going back two years to May 2023, the London Mayor even said “frequent air travellers should consider firstly whether a particular journey” on a private jet was “needed at all”.
“If so, to take the lowest carbon options wherever possible,” he added.
Sir Sadiq has continued to encourage Londoners to “reduce carbon emissions” as much as possible to help save the planet.
He even announced in 2022 that the Ulez would be extended to the whole of Greater London in a bid to reduce carbon emissions.
The London Mayor described clean air as a “right not a privilege”.