Netherlands, EDE — Hundreds of climate protestors prevented private jets from departing Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on the day of the COP27 United Nations climate meeting in Egypt.
Protesters from Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion squatted around private jets to prevent their departure, while others rode bicycles around the aircraft.
Greenpeace Netherlands’ Dewi Zloch stated that environmentalists desire “fewer aircraft, more trains, and a ban on unneeded short-haul flights and private jets.”
According to military police, a number of protestors were detained for being on airport property without permission.
Friday, in response to an open letter from Greenpeace, Schiphol’s new CEO Ruud Sondag stated that the airport is focusing on reducing its carbon footprint “airports without emissions by 2030 and climate-neutral aircraft by 2050. And we have a duty to set the standard in this regard “but admitted that it needed to occur more quickly.
Beginning on Sunday, more than 120 world leaders will participate in this year’s United Nations climate conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Among the weighty topics to be discussed during the talks from November 6 to 18 are the continued reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the expansion of financial aid for developing nations coping with the effects of climate change.