Oh-so-green Ed Miliband racks up 23,000 air miles since election

Ed Miliband has racked up around 23,000 air miles since the General Election – all on trips relating to stopping global warming.

Despite repeatedly declaring that Britain needs to 'tackle the climate crisis' and cut carbon emissions, the Energy and Net Zero Secretary has taken multiple long-haul flights since July.

In August, he flew to South America to speak to the Brazilian environment minister about fighting climate change and in October he flew to the US to speak at New York Climate Week. 

By the end of this week, he will have made two return flights to the COP29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The combined total across all of these flights is about 23,000 miles, which does not account for the special advisers and other officials who will have accompanied him. Adding these would make this figure soar significantly.

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Jonas De Vos, associate professor of transport planning at University College London, said 'in some situations, face-to-face meetings are required', but added: 'You can argue that it is rather hypocritical to fly around as an Energy and Net Zero Secretary, as flying has detrimental impacts on the planet.

'The Secretary should prioritise online meetings when possible.

'The same can be said about all the people attending the COP conference in Baku now.'

However, with nearly 200 countries taking part from multiple time zones, it could be argued that virtual meetings would be difficult to co-ordinate.