Fresh sandwiches sold at COP26 in Glasgow came from 150 miles away in Aberdeen

Sandwiches sold at COP26 climate conference in Glasgow were transported from Aberdeen, which is 150 miles and usually takes approximately three hours to complete, according to the Scotland on Sunday.

The journey was undertaken by a hybrid vehicle, but motoring experts have claimed that the vehicle used to transport the sandwiches could only manager 40 miles, not even one third of the distance by zero-emissions electric power, meaning the remaining 110 miles to the conference would have to have had used diesel or petrol.

This comes after it was revealed that the COP26 summit set a record for CO2 emissions, with air travel being the driving force behind the record levels of emissions, with around 60 per cent of the overall summit emissions coming from flights.

The carbon footprint from the conference - which ended on Friday, November 12 - is almost double that of 2019 global summit that was held in Madrid, the capital of Spain.

The two-week summit was estimated to have emitted 102,500 tons of carbon dioxide, which in perspective is around the average annual emissions for 8,000 UK residents.

Another large contributor to the emissions was travel via car, and the revelation that the sandwiches were delivered via car, and most of the journey using diesel or petrol has raised questions, and eyebrows.

Catering firm Levy UK & I, which runs SEC Food, sold the sandwiches at a series of temporary cafes at the conference but said any carbon emissions would be offset.

“We looked at a number of Scottish sandwich providers who could supply the high volume that was required, as well using good quality Scottish ingredients,” a spokesperson said.

“We can confirm the company is based in Aberdeen,” added the spokesperson.

This story originally appeared on our sister publication’s website - The Scotsman.