Amidst heat waves, a multi-year drought, and devastating floods, environmentalists have shifted their focus to celebrities using emissions-spewing private jets. The latest high-profile individual from the crypto industry who has made it to the list is Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson.
The exec’s private jet is reportedly among the top 15 biggest polluters in the US, according to Climate Jets, a website that tracks the estimated emissions from private jets owned by the ultra-rich. It claims that Hoskinson’s private aircraft emissions “exceeded the full carbon emissions of 186 average Americans.”
Hoskinson’s Comments on Private Jets
After weathering intense public criticism over the same, Hoskinson stated that the website is “over-counting” the use of his private jet. The exec said that when he is not using the aircraft for business, he employs a company that finds clients who use it regularly and has loaned out to some of the big names, including rock band Metallica and Hollywood heavyweight Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
“I have a pretty broad range of clients that use it (aircraft) from Metallica to the Rock and others. It’s a great network tool as well because you can imagine these are the people you would like to do business with.”
In 2022, the aircraft associated with the Cardano founder is claimed to have made 353 flights using 296,930 gallons (more than 1.12k liters) of jet fuel and emitted 2,895.06 metric tons of carbon dioxide, thereby surpassing the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Mark Cuban, Jay-Z, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian, Steven Spielberg to name a few.
The jet’s frequent destinations prominently featured Denver, Los Angeles, and New York City, along with international routes such as Canada, UAE, Poland, Israel, and South Korea, among other countries.
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Bill Gates’ Frequent Use of Private Jets
Shots were also fired at Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates who is a staunch advocate for the fight against climate change and has founded a leading climate technology investment company called ‘Breakthrough Energy Ventures.’ The billionaire also frequently uses private jets, which has prompted questions about authenticity when it comes to his activism.
Interestingly, Gates is ranked as the 13th biggest polluter in the United States. His three private jets logged over 657 hours in the air, spanning a distance of 528,787 kilometers, and emitted 3,058.71 metric tons of carbon dioxide. Citing the stats, Hoskinson said,
“There is a large movement, the ESG movement, that is pushing to reduce carbon. The great irony is that, when you look at the list that was aggregated, the vast majority of those are big boosters of the ESG movement for example Bill Gates and others of his ilk.”
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