GOP bill would track John Kerry’s greenhouse gas emissions

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) introduced a bill Thursday to track greenhouse gas emissions by Biden administration officials — including flight miles racked up by his climate czar, John Kerry, en route to a United Nations climate conference in Egypt.

Ernst is sponsoring the Executive Branch Emissions Transparency Act as Biden and his Cabinet officials have moved to eliminate domestic fossil fuel production and transition to “green” alternatives.

Biden, 80, signed a December 2021 executive order that set forth policies to achieve net-zero carbon emissions nationwide by 2050 — and disclose greenhouse gas emissions by the executive branch.

In November, Kerry and more than 200 federal officials and members of Congress — including then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — jetted to Egypt for the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP27, and encouraged other nations to sign onto the Net-Zero Government Initiative.

Ernst and Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) asked the Government Accountability Office to track emissions from Biden and the US diplomats, but the GAO admitted Thursday that the State Department had no “systematic way to calculate greenhouse gas emissions from US delegations travel.”

“The gas is always greener when you’re burning fossil fuels in the name of saving the planet. Americans have had enough of this hot air,” Ernst told The Post. “According to these Biden bureaucrats’ own actions emitting greenhouse gasses while jetting across the world, American-made fossil fuels are not the enemy. The double standard is clear, and Americans have had enough of this hot air.”

In 2021, Biden led a slightly smaller US delegation to COP26 in Scotland, where the president appeared to nod off during the opening remarks.

Kerry also flew earlier this year to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and a G7 meeting in Japan on climate issues.

A Gulfstream GIV-SP plane owned by Kerry’s family has reportedly made at least 48 trips since he became climate czar, dispersing more than 300 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the air. Typical passenger jets emit roughly 4.6 metric tons of carbon per year.

Kerry’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has also caught flak for flying at least 18 times on taxpayer-funded private jets since taking office, traveling to conferences and US states as part of his work for the administration.

The Department of Transportation’s inspector general announced in February the office would audit Buttigieg’s trips as well as the flights of his predecessor, Elaine Chao.