Get Out of Your SUV and Take the Green Bus
Nicolas Loris /
Over 2,500 business leaders are flying in from around the world on carbon-spewing planes to the Swiss ski resort Davos for the World Economic Forum (WEF). If they were planning on taking a sports utility vehicle (SUV) or a limousine from the airport to the resort, they better think again:
Conference organisers have asked the business elite to leave their gas-guzzling limousines and SUVs, the traditional mode of transport for any self-respecting banker, at home. However, those who insist on turning up in their ostentatious cars will not be banned from entering the conference. Rather, cars that do not conform to the event’s vehicle specifications will not be eligible to receive a cherished “green sticker” that permits access to special security areas.”
Environmentalists have been quick to point out that this is nothing more than a gimmick. Greenpeace Switzerland’s Bruno Heinzer said, “From there you can see the intentions of the WEF, it’s really just to give itself a good image.” Rob Bailey, of Oxfam International (a non-governmental organization that fights poverty and injustice), asserted, “If you try to imagine the overall carbon footprint of the meeting, you will see that those restrictions on cars are probably going to be just a rounding value.” Interestingly, diesel cars will get the “green” light and avoid the conference’s ban.