According to a report by Transport & Environment (T&E), Britain is Europe’s worst culprit for private air travel pollution. Carbon dioxide emissions across the continent increased almost a third between 2005 and 2019. Of these emissions, nearly a fifth come from flights that left or entered the UK. Therefore, it’s the most polluting country because of its frequent flyers.
The EU has had ongoing debates regarding the green deal and the possibility of introducing a frequent flyer tax, so these findings are particularly relevant at the moment.
Private jet emissions overall rose faster than those of commercial aviation during the 14 years. Unfortunately, they are fifty times more polluting than trains and ten times (on average) more ‘carbon intensive’ than airliners.
T&E also zeroed in on the use of private planes in 2020, when most of the global population was under nationally imposed lockdowns. It found that private jet traffic returned to pre-pandemic levels by August 2020, with flyers taking matters into their own hands while commercial flights were still grounded.
Six of the private aviation’s most polluting routes either departed from or arrived at London airports. France also ranked high for personal jet usage. Together, the countries represented nearly 40% of emissions in Europe.
Concerningly, over three-fourths (78%) of the UK flights are described as “short hops within Europe.” Meaning, the plane shaming movement spearheaded by activist Greta Thunberg hasn’t affected the industry as much as expected. Tourists continue to fly for their summer holidays.
But, perhaps, private jet owners could help solve the problem. The report points out that they have a wealth of €1.3 billion on average, suggesting that they could use their money to be part of the solution. They could help accelerate innovation and “clean flying” for everyone by paying for the development of greener technology.
Andrew Murphy, T&E Aviation Director, said:
Flying on a private jet is probably the worst thing you can do for the environment. And yet, super-rich super polluters are flying around like there’s no climate crisis. The upside is that the private jet market is ideally suited to help bring about aviation’s Tesla moment, making hydrogen and electric planes a reality.
Or, these jet owners could contribute to combating climate change by paying a proportional amount of tax to match the carbon impact of every flight they take. Private jets remain untaxed in most European nations because of untaxed kerosene and exemptions from the EU’s carbon pricing scheme (EU ETS).
Murphy concludes:
European policymakers need to urgently start taxing fossil-fuel-powered private jets and ban their use by 2030. The revenues raised from the super-rich could be invested in greener technology that could clean up flying for everyone.
T&E calculates that government could raise €325 million annually if a jet fuel tax were applied to flight distances of all flights departing from the EU and UK. The revenues raised could be used to accelerate the aviation sector’s decarbonization.
