World Bank bureaucrats accused of ‘hypocrisy’ over jet flights to UN climate confab
World Bank bureaucrats who jetted to the United Nations’ annual global warming conference spewed CO2 emissions equal to what’s produced by 200 US households in a year — sparking accusations of climate “hypocrisy,” The Post has learned.
A leaked guest list shows that 254 World Bank officials attended the 12-day green boondoggle in November that took place in the oil and gas-rich dictatorship of Azerbaijan.
A Post analysis of CO2 data, using the UN’s own Carbon Emissions Calculator, found the massive delegation racked up a carbon footprint of at least 1,500 metric tons during the round trip to Baku from Washington, DC.
The Post reported in November how the global body booked Qatar Airways’ luxurious Q Suites when senior managers traveled to the Azeri capital 18 months ago.
This route, which includes a layover in Doha on both legs, has been used as a benchmark to calculate the CO2 estimate.
Figures from the US Environmental Protection Agency show the trip creates the same amount of greenhouse gases as meeting the yearly power needs of 200 households in the US, or the equivalent of 350 automobiles.
The revelations come after left-wing British NGO Oxfam accused the organization of “losing track” of $24 billion in climate funding in a report published in October.
“This is a massive display of hypocrisy from the gilded elites of the World Bank,” Nile Gardiner, the director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation, told The Post.
“They lecture the world on environmental policy while literally living the high life in complete contradiction to everything they preach.”
A World Bank spokesman told The Post that President Ajay Banga has made great strides in making the organization “faster, more efficient and impact-oriented.”
Nevertheless, social media posts reviewed by The Post show the 65-year-old Biden appointee and his team living it up on a private jet.
Jessica Phan — a Biden and Obama administration alum who describes herself on her LinkedIn profile as Banga’s assistant for strategic planning — posted photos on Instagram in October that showed her flashing a peace sign as she boards a luxurious Gulfstream aircraft.
Another photo shows her working onboard the posh private jet with Banga visible in the background.
The former Biden 2020 campaign staffer promptly deleted the pictures from her now-private Instagram account after The Post approached the World Bank about Banga’s jet-setting habits.
The Indian-born businessman also chartered the Gulfstream jet to fly to Azerbaijan for the UN climate conference, insiders told The Post.
A source close to Banga said that he and his team used the jets as “a rare exception” and only “when absolutely necessary.”
“The World Bank President may rely on private aircraft in limited circumstances where security, efficiency, or cost make commercial options impractical,” the World Bank spokesman said.
The Gulfstream lifestyle marks a major U-turn for the ex-Citi and Mastercard executive who reportedly refused to hire private jets during his high-flying corporate career.
The DC-based institution’s lavish travel policy, virtually unheard of in the private sector, also means its staffers can shun cattle class on the taxpayer dime for any flight over five hours outside of North America.
Historical ticket price data, reviewed by The Post, shows business class airfares started at $10,000 to travel to the opening of the climate change negotiations on Nov. 11 last year.
Officials repeatedly refused to reveal the total price tag for the lengthy mission, citing internal policy and “security” concerns.
The World Bank’s lavish spending could also see more pressure from the Trump administration which put all international organizations on notice with an executive order that demanded a six-month review of any US funding.
“Luxury travel is a long-standing feature of development finance,” said Ambassador Joe Rogers, who served as President Ronald Reagan’s envoy to the Asian Development Bank from 1984 to 1986.
“Apparently, this is standard fare for discussing the poorest of the poor. It is absolutely appalling and a slap in the face to American taxpayers.”
There is no indication at this stage that President Donald Trump will order that the US withdraws from the World Bank where it remains the single biggest shareholder.
But the latest revelations could see the lender put under the microscope by senior US officials and Trump’s austerity axeman-in-chief, Tesla titan Elon Musk.
Ex-Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told The Post in January that Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, should have the organization firmly in its sights.
Fitch and Moody’s, two of the world’s top rating agencies, warned last month the World Bank’s triple A-credit score would be at risk if Trump eventually decided to pull the US out.
