Ecology, largely forgotten by the ballot? Prime Minister Jean Castex went to his stronghold of Prades (Pyrénées-Orientales) to vote in the first round of the presidential election on Sunday April 10. A citizen approach certainly, but strongly criticized on social networks since the head of government went there by private plane before returning to Paris two hours later.
The Chief Executive confirms that he used this particular aircraft, and walked away justified on RTL this Tuesday morning “I used the usual rules that apply to the Prime Minister. I hear I chartered a private jet, I flew out of state,” he claimed. “The Prime Minister must be in Paris very quickly if there is the slightest problem. It’s a time of controversy, isn’t it? »
For some users of social networks, it is the ecological impact of transport that is shocking. According to several tweets, the CO² emissions during such a trip would be equivalent to half of those released into the atmosphere by an average Frenchman. Is that the case ?
FAKE OFF
According to the tool flightaware, the Prime Minister took off on Sunday at 7.32 a.m. from Vélizy-Villacoublay (Yvelines) aboard a Falcon F900 from the manufacturer Dassault, to arrive at 8.30 a.m. at Perpignan-Rivesaltes airport. According to the same site, Jean Castex left at 10.34 a.m. from the same airport, returning to Villacoublay at 11.39 a.m. That is a total journey of nearly 1,350 kilometers.
The private jet explodes the CO² meters
The specialized website Compare Private Planes estimates that, for the Vélizy-Perpignan route, a Falcon F900 rejects 2.23 tonnes of CO² equivalent (“metric tonnes” in the international system), or 4.46 tonnes for the round trip.
However, according to statistics from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, the ecological footprint of a French person in 2020 was 8.2 tonnes of CO² equivalent. This figure was down compared to 2019 (9 tonnes per inhabitant), in particular due to the health crisis and confinements.
Whether we base ourselves on 2019 or 2020, excluding Covid-19, the trip of the Prime Minister and his entourage is roughly equivalent to the emissions of a Frenchman over half a year. These 4,460 kg CO² equivalent are significantly higher than the 386 kg per person necessary on an airliner for the same route according to Air France, and especially to 3.1 kg per person issued if the Prime Minister had taken the TGV Paris-Perpignan.