By Vijay Jayaraj
Politicians, celebrities and billionaires who give speeches about carbon footprints operate under different rules. They live in ostentatious excess and exude a spectacular hypocrisy that is rarely questioned by the media that amplifies its climate warnings.
Even scientists fly thousands of miles to attend United Nations climate conferences, contributing to the emission of greenhouse gases that they claim are destroying the Earth. This is a two-tier climate morality in which the powerful allow themselves luxuries while ordinary people are asked to sacrifice their standard of living. Preaching austerity from a private jet has become the let-them-eat cake of our times.
The question is not whether the hypocrisy is real, but why is it so openly tolerated? Maybe because so many people have found ways to profit through “green” subsidies and scams.
Published data from Yard Digital (for 2022) reports that high-profile personalities like Taylor Swift and Leonardo DiCaprio emit 3,000 to 4,400 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually through jet-setting alone – hundreds or thousands of times the average citizen’s emissions.
To illustrate this, compare this to the CO2 emissions of countries such as Bangladesh (0.71 tonnes per capita), Ghana (0.74 tonnes), Ethiopia (0.14 tonnes) and Kenya (0.38 tonnes). A single year of enjoyment of an American icon exceeds the lifetime footprint of entire villages in developing countries.
Consider filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who rebuked those he called “climate deniers,” pointing to a moral failure on the part of anyone who questions the legitimacy of the climate alarm. “Everyone needs to be held responsible for their role in climate change,” he declared, seemingly unaware of a personal lifestyle that produces a carbon footprint equivalent to that of nearly 280 average Americans or more than 2,200 typical Indians.
DiCaprio has built a global brand around climate activism. Yet he famously flew on a private jet from Europe to New York to accept an environmental award, a trip that probably produced more emissions than most of us will do in a year.
If the hypocrisy among celebrities is blatant, the behavior of politicians is even worse. Records show that Bernie Sanders’ campaign committee spent over $221,000 on private jets in the first quarter of the year alone, even as Sanders voted for a law that penalized fossil fuel use and even proposed criminal penalties for energy executives.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “fight oligarchy” tour, designed to challenge wealth and privilege, was marked by her own carbon-intensive travels. Although AOC has toned down her jet-setting in response to criticism, opting for first-class flights instead of private jets, her emissions still far exceed those of her constituents.
United Nations climate conferences often take place in far-flung places such as Dubai, Glasgow or Sharm el-Sheikh. Each transcontinental flight emits up to 2 tons of CO2 per person. For a single conference, a scientist’s travel emissions can rival those of an annual citizen of a developing country. Still, these scientists are pushing for restrictions on energy use in poorer countries that are necessary to combat climate change.
The behavior of the climate priesthood is justified by the “good intentions” of the members or the “philanthropic” aspects of the crusade.
The hypocrisy, while annoying, is less worrying than the real impact of the policies promoted by these Marie Antoinettes.
The push for “net-zero emissions” – an absurd goal that is not even achievable – has negative consequences for families and businesses, who have to pay higher prices for gasoline, electricity and food and suffer restrictions on travel and the purchase of consumer goods.
Jet-setters are not leading the transition to a new energy future, but rather are building a world in which their privileges are protected while those of lesser status bear all the losses necessary for the “greater good.”
Although the march toward this global energy oligarchy has suffered some setbacks with the rise of Trump and other skeptics of the “green” vision, the climate obsessives still cling to their pretenses. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s alliance with the Vatican to “end” global warming is a recent example.
Nonetheless, we expect electoral guillotines to eventually prevail as more voters see through the 21st century version of aristocratic corruption. Get rid of your subsidies!
This comment was first published by The Blaze on October 10, 2025.
Vijay Jayaraj is a science and research associate at the CO2 Coalition, Fairfax, Virginia. He holds a master’s degree in environmental science from the University of East Anglia and a postgraduate degree in energy management from Robert Gordon University, both in the United Kingdom, and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Anna University, India.
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