Eco-warriors blasted for high-flying

By CAHAL MILMO

LONDON - Millionaire eco-warriors who lend their superstar status to green causes were attacked yesterday for leading jet-set lifestyles that put them among the world's worst polluters.

Campaigners who gathered for the United Nations climate talks in the Hague complained that the use of private aircraft by globe-trotting celebrities was contributing to greenhouse gases.

Directly in their line of fire were celebrity activists from the singer Sting to the James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan who, they say, have preached the eco-chic gospel only to hop on fuel-guzzling Learjets and Gulfstreams. Environmentalists warn that a single trip from London to New York produces as much carbon dioxide as a motorist driving in Britain for a year.

Friends of the Earth said that despite their good intentions, few campaigning stars had shown a willingness to forgo life at 30,000ft when more eco-friendly modes of transport were available.

Roger Higman, the Friends' senior climate campaigner, said: "There is no doubt that they should be recognising the problems that air travel presents as more and more people fly. When it comes to travelling in Europe, for example, we would like to see some of these stars leaving behind their private jets and taking the train. The wealthy are the ones who are going to have to change."

While the aviation industry contributes 3 per cent of all greenhouse gases, a predicted doubling of air travel in the next 15 years could see the proportion rise to between 10 and 15 per cent, they said.

Sting, aged 47, who has campaigned to save the rain forests of the Amazon, used a leased private jet to return from a concert in New York this year.

The former singer with the Police was unavailable for comment.

Brosnan, who regularly jets from the US to a retreat in his native Ireland with his partner, Keely Shaye Smith, an environment journalist, has made an internet advertisement for Planet Ark, a campaign group.

"You don't have to be James Bond to save the planet, just get on the internet," he said. "Playing such a visible character as James Bond, it dovetails very well to have a voice for things that you believe in and care about - land, forest and oceans."

The two eco-chic stars have been joined on the green podium by other international celebrities such as the U2 singer Bono, a supporter of Greenpeace, and the actor John Travolta - reputedly the owner of three jets.

Richard Dixon, the research director for Friends in Scotland, said: "Some celebrities who are interested in the environment have carried that through to their personal lives. But among others there is also a level of misunderstanding, perhaps hypocrisy."

Green lobbyists at the Hague, where aviation pollution is not even on the agenda, are calling for an international consensus to tax air fuel, which has been exempt from taxation since the 1940s.