False claim Spanish environment minister took private jet to climate conference | Fact check
The claim: Spanish environment minister flew to climate conference by private jet before bike ride photo op
A July 11 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) features a video of Spain’s Minister for Ecological Transition Teresa Ribera biking to a European Union climate policy meeting.
“Spanish minister attending climate conference gets out of limo 100 meters before arriving to pretend she biked there,” reads the text in the post. The post caption adds, “She traveled most of the way in a private jet too.
The post garnered more than 3,000 shares in one week. Other versions of the post continue to circulate on Instagram, Twitter and Telegram.
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Our rating: False
The Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge has stated multiple times on social media that Ribera did not travel by commercial or private plane to the meeting of the EU Ministers of Environment and Energy in Valladolid, Spain.
Spanish government says Ribera did not fly to climate meeting
On July 10, Ribera attended the informal meeting alongside several other Spanish government officials.
Ribera was photographed riding a rental bicycle to the meeting, which was promptly shared by both the press and the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition’s official Twitter account.
The Ministry said the claim that Ribera traveled to Valladolid by either a commercial or private plane was “false news (falsa noticia)” in a Twitter post.
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Some of the posts include screenshots of a flight map for one of the Spanish government’s private aircraft that flew from Torrejón de Ardoz, east of Madrid, to Valladolid.
But the original photo of Ribera biking was shared by the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition’s official Twitter account before that plane even departed, let alone arrived in Valladolid, according to the flight log used in the post.
One of the accounts that posted the flight map is clearly labeled as satire in the username and biography.
USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Lead Stories and France 24 also debunked this claim.
Our fact-check sources:
Biki, accessed July 19, Home page
Council of the European Union, July 10-12, Informal meeting of Environment and Energy Ministers - July 2023
La Moncloa, accessed July 19, Teresa Ribera Rodríguez
Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, July 11, EU environment ministers debate biodiversity and climate change in Valladolid
Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition, July 10, Twitter post
Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition, July 10, Twitter post
Reuters, July 17, Spain election: Bike lanes, low-emission zones in crosshairs in rightist-run cities
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No, Spanish minister did not take jet to climate meeting | Fact check
