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FACT BRIEF

Does a social media picture of dozens of jets show the planes used by attendees at a climate change conference?

By Christiana Dillard
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NO

Although some reports have estimated that more than 400 jets were used to transport high-profile guests to a climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland, a picture used to support that claim on social media was actually from eight years earlier, at an airport in Louisiana before the 2013 Super Bowl.

The picture in a Facebook post that sardonically describes the purported Scotland scene as "fierce competition ... for the Hypocrisy Awards" shows dozens of noncommercial aircraft lined up at the New Orleans Lakefront Airport ahead of Super Bowl XLVII.

While there have been reports stating that around 400 jets were used to transport various attendees to the climate change conference, officially known as the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Scotland, those aircraft are not the ones pictured in the social media post.

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Aviation International News Super Bowl Sunday Was a Super Day for Bizav
Daily Record Private jets flying to COP26 in Glasgow will blast more CO2 than Scots pump out in a year
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.