No irony flying to Canada for climate talk, says Bristol mayor

The mayor of Bristol said there was "no irony" in his decision to fly 4,600 miles (7,402 km) to attend a conference and give a talk on the climate crisis.

Marvin Rees was criticised by climate campaigners who said his trip to Canada to deliver a 14-minute TEDx lecture seemed to be at odds with his message.

Mr Rees told a briefing on Wednesday he was invited to shape global thinking.

He said virtual attendance "wasn't on the table" and added "have you seen any Ted conferences run by Zoom?"

Campaign group Flight Free UK criticised his decision to fly there due to the huge amount of carbon dioxide emitted from long-haul flights, particularly given the "ironic" topic of his talk on the need to reduce carbon emissions and tackle climate change.

Mr Rees said: "If the argument is coherent and stacks up, then how do you get the biggest platform for that?"

"With all the best will in the world, getting it on the Bristol Live website ain't going to give us that platform, is it?" Mr Rees told The Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Mr Rees said Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Al Gore were also at the event.

"It's fantastic that Bristol, a city of less than half a million, is being asked to take a platform at Ted and shape global thinking," he added.

According to a recent freedom of information request, organisers of the Ted conference paid $5,588 (£4,456) for the mayor's travel expenses, plus an unknown amount for his accommodation.

His agenda included breakfasts, lunches, dinners, cocktails, hair and makeup "to give you a little glam for your stage moment", and a talk with the mayor of Vancouver.

"The argument was that mayors need to be involved in shaping international policy, so there's no irony because I was there shaping international policy," said Mr Rees.

"We can't leave it to national politicians because they're failing, we saw that at COP [climate conference in Glasgow]."

The mayor said the "national and international context in which we work" was not supporting cities to decarbonise and was "not coherent".

"We need national governments to work with us, but we're not waiting for them."

He added: "If it leads to unlocking billions or potentially trillions of pounds to invest in cities, not just in the global north but the global south, then it's about how do you maximise the platform for that?"

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