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The Prince of Wales would have increased the Royal family’s travel emissions by just 0.1 per cent if he had chosen to fly on a commercial flight to Sydney for the Women’s World Cup Final.
Prince William has come under fire from politicians and England supporters for deciding not to travel to Australia for the final, despite being president of the Football Association.
It is understood that Prince William, who has sent a message of congratulations to England’s Lionesses, has decided against travelling because of the environmental impact of flying such a long distance for such a short visit.
Flying to the other side of the world could have added 3 tonnes or more of carbon dioxide to his personal footprint. The average UK citizen emits around 13 tonnes per year.
Based on figures for a premium cabin flight from Heathrow to Sydney, via Singapore, Prince William would have produced 3.3 tonnes of emissions. For the Royal family as a whole in 2022, travel emissions reached 2,857 tonnes.
Queen Letizia of Spain and her daughter are attending the set-piece event and it is traditional for dignitaries and politicians to attend major sporting events involving their national teams.
Several Labour MPs have accused Prince William of double standards, given he attended the men’s Euro 2020 final. That match, however, was at Wembley. He did attend the Women’s FA Cup final earlier this year and the 2022 Women’s Euro final, also held at Wembley.
It was reported at the time that the prince was “too busy” to attend the Men’s World Cup in Qatar last autumn.
Gerry Sutcliffe, a sports minister under Gordon Brown between 2007 and 2010, told The Telegraph: “I think the Prince of Wales should be there.
“I know it’s a long way and I’m sure he has family commitments, but this is a unique moment, it’s the World Cup final.”
Meanwhile, Labour MP Kate Osborne told Times Radio: “We all know that if this was the men’s final, [Rishi] Sunak, and the FA president, Prince William, would be in attendance no matter how long the flight to Australia is.”
The Prime Minister, who has been criticised for flying around Britain in a private jet, won’t attend, although he is sending Lucy Frazer, the Culture Secretary, and Foreign Secretary James Cleverly will also be there.
As a working Royal, Prince William is no stranger to international travel. Since 1983, he is thought to have been on 54 official overseas trips, with his most recent being to Poland in March. He already has trips to Jordan and New York City in the diary for later this year.
However, William and his father, King Charles III, are both outspoken environmentalists who have used their Royal influence to promote green causes. Prince William, in particular, launched the Earthshot Prize for environmental innovation.
As a publicly funded institution, the Royal Family publishes annual accounts for anyone to read. These include a breakdown of the carbon footprint of working royals.
While it does not show how these breakdown for individual members of the household, the accounts do show where the emissions come from.
In their 2022-23 accounts, published in June, the Royal family list their total emissions in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (a measure that includes all greenhouse gases and related effects) for business travel as 1,615 tonnes so far in 2021 and 2,857 tonnes in 2022.
Calculating the emissions that the Prince of Wales would have racked up by flying to Sydney to watch the final is not straightforward. That’s because the total would vary depending on how many stops he made, whether he flew commercially or in the Government plane, and where he departed from.
Nevertheless, making some limited assumptions, it can be said that flying on a commercial flight to Sydney from London would have potentially increased the entire Royal family’s travel emissions compared with 2022 by 0.1%.
Using figures from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a United Nations body, the flight would have created 3.3 tonnes of emissions.
That’s based on flying solo from London Heathrow via Singapore in a “premium” (business or first class) cabin. The ICAO calculates that CO2 emissions for premium seats are double those of economy class because of the extra space taken up.
It is likely that emissions from a Royal trip to Sydney would have been somewhat higher.
On official visits, William often travels in the Government’s A330, a large aircraft that can carry 291 passengers, according to the Royal Air Force. If the flight were anything other than full, each passenger would have a higher individual carbon footprint.
In the unlikely event that William were to fly in economy class, he would have added 1,640 tonnes of CO2 to the Royal family’s carbon footprint.
In the equally unlikely event that William were to fly entirely on his own in the Government’s Voyager 3 Airbus A330, he would be responsible for 480 tonnes of carbon emissions, about 16 per cent of the Royal family’s annual travel footprint.
Clarence House, speaking for King Charles, has said previously that the Royal family offsets all of its carbon emissions, although details on how this is done are lacking.
Nevertheless, carbon offsetting remains highly controversial as a method for tackling climate change. Experts point out that the prices quoted by offsetting companies are often far below the true cost of offsetting the emissions and the sector has been accused of being poorly regulated and monitored.
There is no officially accepted way of measuring carbon offsetting, while experts point to the fact that many offsetting schemes such as tree planting involve future emissions reductions while the pollution from flying takes place immediately.
Earlier this year, an investigation by The Guardian found that 90 per cent of offsets sold by one of the world’s leading certifiers were useless and did nothing to reduce overall carbon dioxide levels.
Kensington Palace, which speaks for the Prince, was approached for comment.
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