Jacinda Ardern Heckled at Global Progress Action Summit in Montreal: Ex Kiwi PM Challenged Over Carbon Emissions
Key Highlights :
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was heckled in Montreal, Canada on Sunday as she attended the Global Progress Action Summit. Lincoln Jay, a videographer for far-right media outlet Rebel News, filmed the moment he stopped her in the street to question her emissions footprint. The incident has raised questions about the environmental impacts of air travel and the hypocrisy of world leaders attending climate change conferences.
Air travel is one of the leading contributors to global warming, with a single passenger flying from Auckland to Montreal producing an estimated 5.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide. In April, Ms Ardern was announced by Prince William as a trustee of the Earthshot Prize, an environmental award. She was also appointed as Special Envoy for the Christchurch Call, an organisation set up to combat online extremism.
Ms Ardern was part of a panel discussion at the 2023 Global Progress Action Summit in Montréal, a meeting of 14 current and former world leaders including Justin Trudeau, Tony Blair and former Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin. Before the summit, Mr Trudeau posted a video of his reunion with Ms Ardern before the summit.
The incident has raised questions about the environmental impacts of air travel and the hypocrisy of world leaders attending climate change conferences. A 2022 study found that aviation contributes around four per cent of human-induced global warming, which is four times Australia's total annual emissions. If the entire aviation industry was a country, it would be the world’s sixth largest emitter, after China, the US, India, Russia, and Japan.
The incident has highlighted the need for world leaders to take action to reduce their own carbon footprints, in addition to encouraging others to do the same. World leaders have a responsibility to lead by example and demonstrate their commitment to tackling climate change. This means reducing their own emissions, such as from air travel, and investing in renewable energy sources.
It is also important for world leaders to be held accountable for their actions, as Ms Ardern was in this instance. While the incident was uncomfortable for Ms Ardern, it is important that world leaders face scrutiny and are held to account for their actions. This is essential in order to ensure that world leaders are taking meaningful action to reduce their own emissions and lead by example.
