THE NORTH POLE— For weeks, debate over Santa Claus’s private sleigh travel has been abuzz on social media. The mythical creature reportedly burns over 9,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually — half of which comes from just one day (December 24th). The internet is now searching through Claus’s past and present to determine his public standing.
The world’s eye has been particularly interested in Claus since he began dating Indianapolis-based athlete Caitlin Clark. The relationship has united sports and Christmas fans alike — excluding some fans who say the WNBA is “all about Santa now” — but is also the reason for much of his travel between the North Pole and Indiana, meaning more emissions. Internet detectives on Twitter (currently X) track the sleigh’s status every hour, revealing hundreds of short, half-hour trips Claus has taken between Phoenix and the surrounding cities with Clark. He calls the sleigh tracking an act of “stalking and harassment” but has no legal abilities to stop it since he isn’t a citizen of any nation.
This adds to a roughly two-decade chain of controversies Claus has been a part of. In 2003, Claus, then Saint Nicholas, was revealed to have helped cover up the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse of minors. Claus denied the allegations, calling the evidence “completely fraudulent,” yet quickly changed his name. In the following years, to avoid any contact with minors, he outsourced to Chinese laborers to deliver presents to children. In 2002, Claus’s secretary mistakenly placed Osama bin Laden on the nice list, giving the terrorist the snow globe of the World Trade Center he asked for. In 2022, Claus ignored international sanctions by delivering gifts to Russian soldiers participating in the Ukrainian invasion.
Now, after seemingly just recovering from the Russian cancellation, he is under fire again. One Twitter post reads “Santa’s emissions are 1,500 times higher than the average person’s… we let our children look up to this guy? #boycottchristmas #santasnaughty.” Another user writes “Okay Santa is so ✨Father✨ and I understand it’s hard to not sleigh private as a celebrity, but 9,000 tonnes of emissions is WAY too much.”
Claus’ PR team has tried to alleviate the pressure, noting his purchase of carbon credits, but the public is skeptical of the credits and remains adamant that a new, carbon-neutral delivery system be implemented. The realism of Claus ditching the sleigh during present delivery is being discussed by Christmas theorists.