Bungling council bosses nearly bought Aberdeen’s Lord Provost a £2,000 trip to Rome – to attend a climate change summit being held by the Pope that he was not invited to.
Lord Provost David Cameron was planning to fly to Rome for the environmental conference, beginning today at the Vatican Gardens.
And the finance committee of the cash-strapped city council nearly signed off on buying his plane tickets last week.
However, the mix-up came to light just before their vote and the travel plan was pulled.
No reason was given at the time.
Round trip flights from Aberdeen to Leonardo da Vinci–Rome Fiumicino Airport, via London, would generate 1.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
It would take a year for 50 trees to capture those emissions for the lord provost’s uninvited visit to the Pope’s climate change summit, where experts will discuss how to “bend the curve” of unfolding climate change, biodiversity loss and global inequality.
But council officials had planned to limit the environmental implications of Mr Cameron flying to the pope’s climate change summit by “looking to book ‘green’ airfares only”.
By train, the journey from Aberdeen to Rome would take at least 30 hours.
What is going on at the Vatican?
Expert scientists, US governors, city mayors and faith leaders from across the world are mustering at the historic Casina Pio IV today.
In the Vatican Gardens, it’s the scenic and historic headquarters of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences.
Pope Francis has called for urgent action on the “grave threat to humanity and to the planet” – and his From Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience conference is part of the Vatican’s response.
The bishop of Rome has been working with consultants Handshake to organise the environmental symposium.
Council confusion as to why Aberdeen lord provost couldn’t go to the Pope’s climate change summit
And confusion over how many invites the World Energy Cities Partnership (WECP) had been given nearly led to the lord provost’s unnecessary 2,466-mile round trip, as the crow flies.
Mr Cameron is the council’s WECP representative.
As the conference gets under way at the Vatican, an Aberdeen City Council spokesman told us: “Approvals for this trip were in the process of getting confirmed before being informed that the World Energy Cities Partnership were only being offered two invitations by Handshake, which have been taken up by the president and vice-president.”
Previously the local authority’s communications experts had suggested the Vatican had pulled Mr Cameron’s invite as too many people had RSVPed before him.
Why did city officials want the lord provost at the Pope’s climate change summit?
Pope Francis has invited local leaders to highlight how they are taking action to prepare for, and adjust to, the changing climate and severe weather during the two-day meeting.
The supreme pontiff believes they will “form the core” of change to adapt to the changing climate.
And council chiefs thought the Vatican would be “an excellent opportunity” for the lord provost to flex Aberdeen’s “net zero vision” and “highlight the opportunities for investment in the city and region”.
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