The controversy surrounding the carbon emissions of Greta Thunberg’s sailing trip

The crew of the sailboat that crosses the Atlantic to carry Greta Thunberg to New York assured this Sunday that the carbon emissions linked to its displacement would be fully compensated, in response to the controversy surrounding the conditions for the return of the ship to Europe.

The Swedish teenager, promoter of a global movement to combat climate change, left on August 15 with her father aboard a competition sailboat, the “Malizia II”, to attend the UN world summit in New York avoiding the use of airplanes, a much more polluting means of transport.

But a spokesman for German navigator Boris Herrmann – one of the ship’s skippers – told the Berlin newspaper TAZ that several people would take the plane to New York to take the ship back to Europe after Greta’s voyage, including himself.

The newspaper has calculated that Thunberg’s boat trip will be at the end more polluting than if I had taken the planeand many on social media have criticized the young activist for it.

“We planned this trip to New York at the last minute, there are four members of the team who will bring the boat,” Holly Cova, head of the Malizia team, confirmed to AFP. “All flights are compensated,” although she acknowledged that “this solution is imperfect.”

Before the UN summit on September 23, Greta Thunbergwho has taken a gap year, will participate in many other climate summits, in Canada, Mexico and in Chile for another UN conference in December.