Private jets' carbon footprint and world leaders taking them to COP26

One of the criticisms around this year's COP26 is world leaders and other delegates travelling to the summit in private jets.

Questions like how much environmental damage do they do and did the leaders have other choices are doing the rounds on social media.

How many private jets went to Glasgow?

FlightRadar24, which tracks flights, has looked at the number of non-commercial flights into Glasgow, Prestwick and Edinburgh airports since October 27, excluding cargo, regular or local journeys.

It has found that there were about 182 such flights, which is about double the total for the previous six days, reports BBC.

That excludes some national chartered flights, such as President Biden's plane, Air Force One.

There was a total of 76 flights involving private jets, or VIP flights, arriving in and around Glasgow in the four days leading up to November 1, BBC reports quoting Aviation analytics company Cirium.

What is the carbon footprint of private jet travel?

Flights produce greenhouse gases -- mainly carbon dioxide (CO2) -- from burning fuel. These contribute to global warming.

Emissions per kilometre travelled are known to be significantly worse than any other form of transport, according to the BBC report.

But this varies considerably depending on size, occupancy levels and efficiency. Private jets generally produce significantly more emissions per passenger than commercial flights.

A journey from Rome to Glasgow on a private jet that some of the G20 leaders made to get to COP26 would take around two hours and 45 minutes, requiring 2,356 litres of jet fuel.

This flight would produce 5.9 tonnes of CO2 as 2.52kg of carbon dioxide is emitted for every litre of aviation turbine fuel burned, the BBC report says quoting The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

If, however, the world leaders had decided to take a commercial flight from Rome to Glasgow, their emissions would have been a quarter of a tonne each.