A climate scientist has claimed his job is at risk because of his insistence not to travel by plane for the good of the planet.
The climate scientist Dr. Gianluca Grimalda claimed that the Kiel Institute for the World Economy had warned him that he could be fired if he did not return to Germany from Papua New Guinea within the next few days.
However, Grimalda has refused to return so quickly as it would require a flight by jet, which he says puts a huge strain on the environment.
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A scientist and member of the activist group Scientist Rebellion claimed his employer threatened to fire him because he did not return home from the site on a jet plane. (Picture Alliance)
Grimalda, a member of the climate activist group Scientist Rebellion, gave details of his predicament in a lengthy thread on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“I have now completed my field research. I collected 1814 observations from 30 villages to examine how globalization and climate change affect egalitarianism in non-industrialized societies. “I should be happy, but instead I’m terribly sad,” Grimalda wrote. “I am sad that my employer @kielinstitute sent me a reminder to return to Kiel next Monday. They want me to take a plane, which I have a moral objection to because my field work took 2 months longer than expected. If I don’t comply.” “With this warning I will be fired,” Grimalda wrote.
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Grimalda provided further details, explaining: “My employer wants me to come back as soon as possible, not without reason. But there is *nothing* I have to do in Kiel that I can’t do while traveling. I offered to take unpaid leave for so long.” They like it, so they are not responsible for whatever happens to me on the trip. But they refused.”
In a later post, the researcher added that he had committed not to flying because he had “promised villagers in my awareness-raising talks” that I would minimize my emissions when I returned to Europe.
To return home, Grimalda plans to use cargo ships, ferries and trains.
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In a document outlining his thoughts, Grimalda wrote: “Last Friday the president of my institute and the administrative director gave me an ultimatum: I should be in Kiel next Monday or I will be fired. Be in Kiel on Monday.” [Oct. 2] means taking a plane, something they know I despise. A plane trip would produce about 4 tonnes of CO2 – the greenhouse gas responsible for global warming.”
In a statement Grimalda provided to Fox News Digital, the researcher claimed that his employer “explicitly informed me that they will issue me two warnings to stay in Germany, otherwise they will terminate my contract.” One warning I have already missed it. The second one is still coming.
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Grimalda also told Fox that his employer stopped paying his salary without telling him in September.
“I remain astonished and outraged by their behavior – particularly the fact that they did not inform me that they would stop paying my salary in September. A third of my salary goes towards the medical care of my suffering mother. “Since I suffer from dementia in Italy, I need this money,” he said.
Asked whether his concern about not being paid was inconsistent with his offer of unpaid leave, he told Fox: “Without my institute salary, I’m struggling to make ends meet.” He noted, that if his employer had “at least told me that they were going to stop paying me,” he would have made preparations, including selling some of his shares “immediately.”
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He added that in his opinion “conscientious objection to flying should be recognized as a valid reason for employees not to use aircraft as a means of transport. This is especially true for people like me who are suffering from climate grief and climate anxiety.”
The Kiel Institute told Fox News Digital that it does not comment on “internal personnel matters in public.” They added that they support employees to travel in a “climate-friendly” way.
Grimalda has been part of controversial climate protests in the past. The scientist who glued himself to the floor of a Volkswagen factory along with several other Scientist Rebellion protesters last year was arrested by German police over the stunt.
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