Climate champion Emma Watson's carbon footprint was three times the global average, branded 'super emitter' in new study
'Harry Potter' actress Emma Watson who played the role of Hermoine Granger in the popular films has been named a greenhouse gas 'super emitter' for having a massive carbon footprint, according to a new study.
Swedish academics had analyzed and looked into the carbon footprints of ten famous people who travel around the world often. Watson, who is the only Briton on the list, had the tenth worst environmental impact out of the list of celebrities.
The carbon footprints were calculated based on the celebrity's social media account, INews reports.
Watson, 29, flew 14 times in 2017 and had reportedly traveled 42,253 miles. She had spent around 71 hours in the air, researchers revealed. Her carbon footprint from flying solo was 15.1 tons of CO2, which is three times the global average.
As a UN spokesperson, Watson had called for everyone to help achieve UN's 17 global goals which were inclusive of fighting poverty, reducing inequality, and stopping climate change.
Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates topped the list of celebrity greenhouse gas super emitters. Gates has a carbon footprint of more than 1,600 tons of CO2. In 2017, he had taken around 59 flights and had traveled around 213,130 miles which were mostly done on his private BD-700 jet which can hold 19 passengers.
At the second position on the list was socialite Paris Hilton who had flown around 171,346 miles by various private jets with a carbon footprint of more than 1,260 tons of CO2.
Celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez had flown 139,520 miles, Oprah Winfrey, 83,356 miles, while Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had flown around 65,888 miles.
The list of celebrities also included the likes of designer Karl Lagerfeld, web video producer Felix von der Laden, and footballer Andre Schurrle.
The figures and findings were published in the journal Annals of Tourism Research. The lead author of the research, Steffan Gossling, revealed he had been inspired by fellow Swede Greta Thunberg. "As Greta Thunberg affirmed early on, 'the bigger your carbon footprint, the bigger your moral duty'," Gossling revealed.