Carbon pollution from private jets has skyrocketed over the past five years, with most of these small planes emitting more. heat-trapping carbon dioxide in about two hours of flying than the average person does in about a year, according to a new study.

About a quarter of a million very wealthy people – worth a total of $31 trillion – emitted 17.2 million tons (15.6 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide last year by flying in private jets, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Nature. Earth and Environment Communications. That’s roughly the same number as Tanzania’s 67 million people.

Emissions from private jets jumped 46% between 2019 and 2023, according to the European research team which calculated the figures by examining more than 18.6 million flights of around 26,000 planes over five years.

Only 1.8% of carbon pollution from aviation is released by private jets and aviation as a whole is responsible for about 4% of human-caused heat-trapping gases, the study found.

That may seem small, but it’s a question of fairness and priorities, said the study’s lead author, Stefan Gossling, a transportation researcher at Linnaeus University’s business school in Sweden.

“The damage is caused by those who have a lot of money and the cost is borne by those who have very little money,” Gossling said.

The highest-emitting private jet user the team tracked — but did not identify by name — released 2,645 tons (2,400 metric tons) of carbon dioxide while using the plane, Gossling said. This is more than 500 times the global per person average of 5.2 tonnes (4.7 metric tonnes) than the World Bank calculates or the 4.7 tons (4.3 metric tons) that the International Energy Agency figures and Gossling cites.

“This report presents further evidence that billionaires are driving the climate crisis,” said Jonathan Westin, executive director of the advocacy organization Climate Organizing Hub. “They cling to their private jets and their oil profits while ordinary people see floods, hurricanes And forest fires.”

Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency calculated that the 1% of people with the highest emissions on the planet had a carbon footprint more than 1,000 times greater than that of the poorest 1% on the planet.

Gossling’s study counted more than 35,600 tons (32,300 metric tons) of carbon pollution from just five global events: the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the 2023 World Economic Forum, the Super Bowl in 2023, the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and the 2023 United Nations climate negotiations in Dubai. . This came from 3,500 private jet flights.

“It’s a dark joke that the billionaire class sends private jets to annual climate conferences, and the United Nations should crack down on this hypocritical practice,” said Jean Su, director of energy justice at the Center for Diversity biological.

Researchers also examined more than 1,200 flights carried out by famous actors, singers and directors, but Gossling declined to give the names of the public figures.

Many private flights aren’t even for business “and aren’t necessary,” Gossling said. “They are very often linked to lifestyle.”

Although the study “highlights some of the most greedy, that is, the richest, emitters,” Michael Mann, a climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, said the focus should not be on on individual behaviors and a person’s carbon footprint. He called it “a diversion from the primary task at hand, which is to decarbonize our societal infrastructure through systematic change and policy.”

That’s the problem, Gossling said.

“We’ve been told for a long time that it’s the system that needs to change, not the individual,” Gossling said. “This means that no one is responsible for their lifestyle. »

“The problem is that the 26,000 planes and the people who operate them will say, ‘We’re just a small group.’ We are not relevant in terms of emissions. But everyone will look at the small group and say, “Look, these are the super-transmitters, if they’re not relevant, how can we be relevant?” » said Gossling. “And then you have two different groups pointing at each other, which locks us into a circular discussion.”

About 51% of these private jets burn at least 239 gallons of fuel per hour. That translates to more carbon emissions in two hours and one minute than the IEA’s estimate of 4.7 tonnes (4.3 metric tonnes) of pollutants per year per average person, the study calculated.

“Given that technology is not going to solve (climate change), I think the answer is clear. We have to start at the top,” Gossling said.

Gossling said the way to combat high-flying emissions is to impose a tax or landing fee equivalent to the damage caused by each ton of emissions. That’s about $200 or 200 euros. Westin has called for a ban on private jets.

The United States is by far the hub of private jets, with more than 68% of the world’s private planes, or about 5 per 100,000 people, according to the study. But Gossling said private jets are everywhere, even in poor countries.

In the United States, Alaska has the highest number of private jet flights per person, nearly 5,000 per 100,000 residents, according to another study by student travel agency Rustic Pathways.

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