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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Environment
Oliver Milman

Elon Musk was once an environmental hero: is he still a rare green billionaire?

Elon Musk illustration
Critics point to the emission levels from Elon Musk’s space tourism enterprise and from his private jet flights, which alone dwarf the planet-heating pollution caused by the average US household. Illustration: Guardian Design

Elon Musk was once lauded as a sort of green Tony Stark – the genius inventor who leads a double life as superhero Iron Man – for single-handedly tackling the climate crisis one Tesla at a time, helping to forge a clean energy future and pushing for new taxes to drive down fossil fuel use.

But the climate credentials of the world’s richest person have become clouded by his embrace of rightwing politicians, some of whom dismiss global heating, as well as by his management of X, formerly known as Twitter, during which many climate scientists have fled the platform amid a proliferation of misinformation about the climate crisis.

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