Sarkozy leaves giant footprint

PRESIDENT Sarkozy has a huge carbon footprint, equivalent to that made by 1,000 of his fellow citizens, according to an ecological magazine.

His globetrotting in the presidential jet over the past 11 months has produced 7,061 tonnes of carbon dioxide, said Terra Economica.

“That is the equivalent of the annual total emissions, transport, housing, food of 1,000 ordinary French people," said the magazine.

It said that its calculations were certainly an under-estimation because the president also undertook numerous private plane trips.

The report came just two days after MPs adopted a draft bill on measures to radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Sarkozy had presented these measures as the beginning of a "green revolution" in France.

The "carbon footprint" measures the amount of so-called greenhouse gases, largely the carbon dioxide that helps trap the sun's heat in the atmosphere, that each of us emit through our purchases and activities.

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