That’s the end of smooth sailing.
Jeff Bezos, who has pledged to spend billions of dollars to help combat climate change, nevertheless owns a $500 million superyacht that generates thousands of tons of carbon emissions each year, according to a new analysis conducted by researchers at Indiana University.
The Amazon founder’s 417-foot “Koru” sailing yacht produces a staggering 7,154 tons of greenhouse gases a year, about 447 times the total annual carbon footprint of an average American, the researchers found. Indiana researchers.
The findings, based on publicly available data, come as the world’s third-richest man has pledged to spend $10 billion over 10 years through the Bezos Earth Fund to combat the effects of climate change.
So far, the fund has distributed $1.84 billion, including for nature conservation and restoration and the transformation of food systems.
Koru and its support vessel, the Abeona, are the first yachts Bezos has purchased, according to Nautical Channel.
Koru produces at least 7,154 tons of carbon emissions per year, according to researchers at Indiana University.Pedro/SplashNews.com
Billionaires like Bezos, whose net worth is about $161 billion, “invest in issues like climate change and carbon emissions, and they are very vocal about it publicly,” said Beatriz Barros, a doctoral candidate in anthropology at Indiana. who analyzed the ship’s emissions. with anthropologist Richard Wilk.
“But because they are so rich and so powerful, they feel they have the right to [to travel in carbon-producing superyachts]while you and I should drive less and eat less meat,” he said.
Boating industry experts have praised the Koru’s “green” ability to travel using wind power, but Barros sniffed that Bezos’s three-masted goliath generates a lot of greenhouse gases simply by heating and cooling the ship and powering the various upper boat systems. Luxury amenities such as its sauna, swimming pool and theater.
Bezos’ new yacht generates greenhouse gases by powering its luxury amenities that include sauna, theater and pool.AbacaPress/SplashNews.com
“I don’t see how, in any way, this can be considered environmentally friendly,” said Barros, whose findings with Wilk were first reported by The Guardian.
The superyacht, built by Netherlands-based Oceanco and made its maiden voyage in April, came with the 246-foot Abeona, which is equipped with jet skis and a helicopter pad to accommodate Bezos’ fiancée’s personal helicopter, Lauren Sanchez. .
Barros and Wilk’s analysis did not include emissions from the sister ship.
Koru was built by Netherlands-based Oceanco and set sail on its maiden voyage in April.AbacaPress/SplashNews.com
Bezos’s wealth insulates him from the impact of environmental crises, said Dario Kenner, author of “Carbon Inequality: The Role of the Richest in Climate Change.”
“There is an emotional and physical disconnect with the rich and climate change,” Kenner said.
“Poorer people live closer to toxic air facilities, refineries and pollution dumps,” he said, explaining that land is cheaper in those areas.
Despite pledging billions of dollars to fight climate change, Bezo leaves a large and environmentally damaging carbon footprint.Getty Images
“If you are rich, you are rarely in contact with environmental disaster zones; you are more insulated from extreme weather and air pollution.”
The Koru emissions aren’t the only rough seas Bezos has faced in recent years for his environmental bona fides.
In 2021, online critics criticized Bezos for allegedly traveling by helicopter to party on Bill Gates’ superyacht, just days before attending the COP26 climate summit in Scotland on a private jet.
A spokesperson for Bezos told Observer.com at the time that the billionaire used sustainable aviation fuel for his travels and pays for carbon offsets, which fund projects that reduce greenhouse gas pollution and cancel out the carbon emissions generated by airplanes. trips.
The previous year, hundreds of Amazon employees criticized the company for its ongoing contracts with oil and gas companies, months after then-CEO Bezos promised to bring the online retail giant’s operations to net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. carbon by 2040.
Bezos and the Bezos Earth Fund did not respond to requests for comment.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn