Energy watchdog exposes eye-popping carbon footprint of Sanders' jet-setting tour: 'Fake socialist'
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By Andrew Miller
Published May 13, 2025
FIRST ON FOX: As Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders continues to travel around the country on his "Fighting Oligarchy" tour, while at the same time defending his use of private jets to do so, an energy watchdog group has calculated the true scope of the carbon emissions his flights have emitted.
During the 16 stops of the tour, which Sanders embarked on with the help of progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, his private jet emitted a total of 62.15 tonnes, or metric tons, of carbon dioxide, according to an estimate from Power the Future.
To put that in perspective, Power the Future said in a press release that the emissions equate to burning 62,600 pounds of coal, driving a gas-powered SUV 150,000 miles, powering every home in Sanders' hometown of Burlington, Vermont, for weeks, and powering nine U.S. homes for an entire year.
Power the Future also calculated that Sanders generated more carbon dioxide emissions on this single tour than the average American produces in five years. Additionally, the group says that the emissions undo the carbon-capturing work of nearly 2,900 trees over the course of a year.
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"Sen. Sanders has voted for legislation punishing people for their carbon footprint and threatening fossil fuel executives with prison for climate change hysteria, but his personal actions demonstrate he's just another limousine liberal, a fake socialist, unwilling to live what he wants to impose on you," Dan Turner, Power the Future founder and executive director, told Fox News Digital.
"The climate movement is dead, and Bernie Sanders' hypocrisy helped kill it."
Sanders, in a recent interview with Fox News, refused to apologize for his private jet travel and argued that oftentimes it is not possible or feasible to fly commercially.
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"That's the only way to get around," Sanders told Bret Baier. "No apologies for that. That's what campaign travel is about. We've done it in the past. We're gonna do it in the future."
"You run a campaign, and you do three or four or five rallies in a week. [It is] the only way you can get around to talk to 30,000 people. You think I'm gonna be sitting on a waiting line at United…while 30, 000 people are waiting?"
Power the Future noted that one of the private jet flights taken by Sanders was from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles, a route that offers more than a dozen commercial flights per day.
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Sanders' campaign committee, Friends of Bernie Sanders, spent over $221,000 chartering private jets during the first quarter of 2025, according to Federal Election Commission filings reviewed by Fox News Digital and first reported by The Washington Free Beacon. The filing, which was released last month, shows that Sanders dropped the massive haul between three private jet companies: Ventura Jets, Cirrus Aviation Services and N-Jet.
Last month, Fox News Digital exclusively reported that Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez were spotted using a private jet worth up to a staggering $15,000 an hour for several West Coast stops on their "Fighting Oligarchy" tour.
"Champagne socialists Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez demand Americans surrender their pick-up trucks, air conditioning and meat from the luxe leather seats of their private jets that cost more per hour than most Americans earn in months. Their hypocrisy is staggering," National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Ben Petersen told Fox News Digital at the time.
Fox News Digital reached out to Sanders' office for comment. Print Close
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