Child activist Greta Thunberg refused to fly back to Europe from her trip to the U.S. and the United Nations, instead sailing across the Atlantic on a yacht rather than emit carbon by taking a plane.

Unfortunately for Ms. Thunberg’s carbon footprint though, the boat’s captain had to fly to the U.S. to reach the boat.

Nikki Henderson, the 26-year-old yacht captain of the 48-foot catamaran La Vagabonde, flew to the U.S. from Britain to sail Ms. Thunberg’s ship 3,500 miles from the U.S. to Portugal.

As a result, multiple British news outlets noted Sunday, the 16-year-old girl’s trip back to Europe — for a Madrid climate summit, no less — had about the same carbon emissions as it would have had if she had just flown herself.

Ms. Henderson took the flight — and burned same amount of jet fuel Ms. Thunberg would have and emitted about 2-3 tons of carbon — specifically for the purpose of supporting Ms. Thunberg and her not-burning jet fuel and emitting 2-3 tons of carbon.

“I decided to help @Sailing_LaVaga and support Greta because she is changing the world — simply by standing up for what she believes is right and staying true to her values,” she wrote on Twitter.

She offered to sail Ms. Thunberg after the teenager solicited help on social media to get back across the Atlantic after a climate summit was moved at the last minute from Santiago to Madrid because of political protests in Chile.

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.