Labour’s climate envoy has been accused of living like a ‘travel writer’ after it emerged she has effectively circled the globe three times in her new role.
Rachel Kyte has clocked up more than 75,000 air miles since her appointment in September – costing taxpayers almost £40,000.
The majority of her flights were in business class, according to details released to The Telegraph via a Freedom of Information request.
Ms Kyte, an academic and fan of environmental group Extinction Rebellion, was recruited by Ed Miliband in September as the UK’s new ‘special representative for climate’.
She has previously admitted her carbon footprint was ‘a source of deep discomfort’, but she visited a foreign country every month between October and May.
Her personal carbon footprint for the flights alone could be as high as 15 metric tonnes of CO2.
The average carbon footprint per person in the UK is around 12.7 metric tonnes of CO2, for a whole year.
Ms Kyte racked up the miles – costing a total of £38,769 – on trips to Dar es Salaam, Cape Town, Washington DC and Riyadh, among other far-flung destinations.
According to the Government’s website, her objectives are to ‘build the UK’s profile as a progressive climate leader’ and ‘drive for results in the clean energy transition and green and inclusive growth’.
She told the New Statesman in 2021, while working at a university in Massachusetts: ‘Having worked internationally for years, and with family on the other side of the Atlantic and friends spread across the world, the carbon footprint wrapped up in my social and professional identity is a source of deep discomfort.’
The Foreign Office said all Ms Kyte’s travel complied with internal travel policies, and her ‘international diplomacy has supported efforts to unlock more private finance to tackle the climate crisis and taken forward our mission to be a clean energy superpower’.
Richard Tice, deputy leader of Reform UK, said: ‘The climate envoy is more like a travel writer travelling around the world to exotic locations.’
Earlier this year, the Mail revealed that Ms Kyte was among a string of Extinction Rebellion cheerleaders recruited by Mr Miliband to government roles.
She is one of a trio of advisers who have expressed public admiration for the radical direct action group that has repeatedly brought chaos to Britain’s streets.
Ms Kyte previously sported an Extinction Rebellion badge at an international climate summit and praised an eco-activist who glued herself to the pavement outside Shell’s headquarters in London.
The Mail also revealed this year that civil servants at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) spent more than £700,000 of taxpayer cash on luxury air travel last year, with staff flying business and premium economy 237 times in 12 months.
Carbon emissions are around three times higher for long-haul business class flights than economy. Premium economy is one-and-a-half times the emissions.
