Climate Researcher Loses Job At IfW Kiel After Refusing Flight Over Emissions

 

A climate researcher was fired after he declined to take a flight to return from a field experiment in Papa New Guinea because he tries to avoid flying wherever possible to reduce his carbon footprint.

The Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany informed Dr. Gianluca Grimalda on Wednesday that his research contract had been cancelled.

“Wasting 4.5 tonnes of CO2 to comply with the absurd request to be physically present in Kiel at such short notice is morally unacceptable,” he noted.

The academic’s employer previously supported his refusal to board aircraft since 2010 unless there was no other choice.

Dr. Grimalda traveled by land over a 35-day period to the southwest Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea, traveling through Iran, India, and Thailand along the way.