The Conference of the Parties (COP) held in Azerbaijan ended this week. Ironically, despite being a climate conference, private jets were a popular mode of travel to COP29. An estimated number of 65 private jets were in attendance at a conference designed to curb climate change says data tracking website Flight Radar. This is in comparison to the 32 private jets that arrived at Baku airport during the same week last year.
The burning of fossil fuels is the primary cause of current climate change, altering the Earth’s ecosystems and causing human and environmental health problems. Several United Nations reports say the globe must cut emissions by 42% by 2030 to possibly limit warming to an internationally agreed-upon threshold.
It is apparent that air travel has been one of the biggest contributors and a perennial cause of concern for climate change.
A recent report estimates that the number of private jet use shows that the number of aircraft, trips and the distance planes covered have all risen in the past. Between 2019 and 2023, the number of private flights rose to more than four million a year, increasing emissions by 46%. Researchers from Sweden’s Linnaeus University found that significant peaks in emissions are seen around specific international events, such as COP28 and 2022 FIFA World Cup, as a big volume of private jets are operated.
Those regularly flying in private jets could be contributing about 500 times more carbon dioxide—a major greenhouse gas—in a year than an average individual, the study said.
Six countries accounted for more than 80% of private aircrafts around the world—the US where nearly 70% of all private aircraft are registered, followed by Brazil (3.5%), Canada (2.9%), Germany (2.4%), Mexico (2%) and the UK (2%), according to the study published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment.
Major international events, attracting visitors from the world over, were found to be related with a heavy volume of private flights. While COP28 involved 644 private flights—producing 4,800 tonnes of carbon dioxide, the FIFA World Cup of 2022 was associated with 1,846 private aircraft, estimated to have produced 14,700 tonne of carbon dioxide, the researchers said.
Pop icon Taylor Swift, one of the high-flying celebrities, has been using private jets amounting to an estimated 8,300 tonne of carbon emissions in 2022—that’s about 1,800 times the average human’s annual emissions, or 576 times that of the average American and about 1,000 times that of the average European. Swift has received flak for the planet-heating emissions of her private jet. Reportedly, Swift’s publicist says she bought double the amount of carbon offsets needed to compensate for her travel for the Eras Tour before it kicked off in March 2023.
A study by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) showed that, in the US, roughly 50% of aviation related emissions are produced by the first percentile of wealthiest individuals.
Kylie Jenner and her sister Kim have been named among the biggest private jet users. Tech giant Bill Gates and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2021 mentioned carbon offsetting while they were criticised for a lavish superyacht birthday bash in which guests were flown in on helicopters.
The British band Coldplay has tackled the problem of carbon emission via their Music of the Spheres tour 2023 by reducing their footprint (from show production, freight, band and crew travel) by at least 50% compared to those on their 2016-17 Head Full of Dreams Tour. Climate activist Greta Thunberg in 2019 opted to sail to a UN climate conference in New York in a zero-emissions yacht rather than fly. This was to highlight the impact of aviation on the environment. The Swedish activist has previously travelled to London and other European cities by train.
The much-talked about wedding of Radhika and Anant Ambani was a grand affair with guests flying from all over the world. Mukesh Ambani had reportedly hired 100 planes, including three Falcon 2000 jets, to transport guests to the wedding at Mumbai’s Jio World Convention Centre. Rajan Mehra, CEO of Air Charter company Club One Air, told Reuters that the Ambanis had rented three of their Falcon 2000 private jets for this purpose, and over 100 private planes during the wedding festivities.
Cutting down greenhouse gas emissions is considered critical for limiting global warming to 1.5-2 degrees Celsius, as outlined in the Paris Agreement.
Since private aviation is known to be highly energy-intensive, emitting more carbon dioxide per traveller, compared to commercial flights. However, only 0.003% of the world’s adults could be flying in private jets.
