The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has been accused of “hypocrisy” for travelling around the world pleading for more to tackle climate change.
Under Welby’s leadership, the Church of England Adopted The strict net-zero strategy will bring forward the carbon neutrality deadline by 15 years, from 2045 to 2030.
The church is seeking to move away from fossil fuels, pressuring local parishioners and encouraging parishioners to replace gas and oil boilers with heat pumps and solar panels.
Speaking at the 2023 Abu Dhabi World Climate Summit, the Archbishop said: Urged World religious leaders aim to “lead by example” in the fight against climate change.
“Our actions must reflect our faith and our faith must guide our actions,” Welby said.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby addresses media on board the papal plane returning from a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan on February 5, 2023. (TIZIANA FABI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
“There is still a lot of work to be done, from working to phase out fossil fuels and develop technologies that can provide clean energy, to delivering on the promised $100 billion in climate finance and agreeing a loss and damage fund,” he said.
Daily Mail Researched But an examination of Archbishop Welby’s recent air travel reveals that by June he had travelled more than 48,000 miles on 10 trips since last September, visiting such far-flung destinations as Guatemala, El Salvador, Pakistan, Gaza, Panama, Costa Rica and Zanzibar.
Those flights alone increased the archbishop’s carbon dioxide emissions by at least 15 tonnes, the paper said.
Critics argue that Welby’s environmental work is in direct conflict with his title of “Archbishop of the Air Mile” and that a prelate cannot have both at the same time.
An unnamed church official said it was “highly unusual” for the archbishop to “choose to spend so much time outside the church when there are so many problems going on in the country”.
Archbishop Welby: Climate failure would mean genocide ‘far greater’ than the Holocaust https://t.co/zglP6vPulz
—Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) November 2, 2021
“His own parish has seen a devastating drop in attendance, the worst youth figures of any parish, but he’s too busy to respond,” the pastor said.
Another Anglican leader, the Rev. Marcus Walker, chairman of the clergy group Save our Parish Network, said if the church was willing to compromise on the archbishop’s air travel “shouldn’t it also compromise for parishes that are struggling to replace their boilers?”
Professor Roy Faulkner, a member of the General Assembly of the Church of England, said Mr Welby “sees himself as a member of the Foreign Office and spends a lot of his time visiting foreign countries”.
“That’s not his main job. I agree that he is the archbishop of the air miles,” Faulkner said.
