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Labour climate envoy racks up 76,000 air miles in eight months
Ms Kyte racked up expenses for 16 journeys since October, flying business class on 12 occasions and economy class on 11.
Richard Tice, deputy leader of Reform UK, said: 'The climate envoy is more like a travel writer travelling around the world to exotic locations.'
It comes after David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, was embroiled in a hypocrisy row after his air travel bill rose to £1.2m between October and December last year.
In January, Ms Kyte travelled on a return business class flight from London to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to 'unlock private sector investment in renewable energy' through her attendance at the Africa Energy Summit, at a cost of £6,040 to taxpayers.
A one-way business class flight that took Ms Kyte from Boston in the US to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to attend the COP16 conference in December cost £5,436. Another one-way business class flight took Ms Kyte from Washington DC to London in April, costing £5,129.
A further journey saw Ms Kyte fly business class from London to Hanoi, Vietnam, last month, returning via Jakarta, Indonesia, on tickets that cost £4,559. On the trip she visited Singapore using economy class flights, which together cost £578.
In Singapore she spoke at climate events including Ecosperity Week and the GenZero Climate Summit and met with government representatives to 'deepen collaboration on areas such as energy connectivity and carbon markets'.
Other destinations on Ms Kyte's itinerary since becoming climate envoy include Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Baku in Azerbaijan, New Dheli and Rome.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'The Special Representative for Climate was appointed specifically to support ministers in driving action on this government's strategic priorities on international climate action and energy policy. Her international diplomacy has supported efforts to unlock more private finance to tackle the climate crisis and taken forward our mission to be a clean energy superpower. All travel has complied with internal travel policies.
'All FCDO travel is undertaken using the most efficient and cost-effective travel arrangements. Travel plans are decided with consideration of the best use of time and in the interests of the taxpayer.'