Carbon Pollution From Private Jets Has Increased 46%: Study

Over the past five years, carbon pollution from private jets has spiked, with many of the world’s richest people accounting for the increase, a new study found.
Roughly a quarter million of the world’s wealthiest individuals, collectively worth $31 trillion, produced 17.2 million tons (15.6 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide from private jet flights last year, a study published Thursday in Nature Communications Earth & Environment found. This emission level mirrors the annual carbon output of Tanzania’s 67 million residents.
Private jet emissions surged by 46 percent between 2019 and 2023, according to a European research team that analyzed a dataset of over 18.6 million flights, covering approximately 26,000 jets over the five-year period.
Private jets contribute just 1.8 percent of aviation’s carbon emissions, while the aviation sector as a whole accounts for roughly 4 percent of human-generated greenhouse gases, according to the study.
While the figure may appear modest, it’s ultimately about fairness and setting priorities, explained Stefan Gossling, the study’s lead author and a transportation researcher at Sweden’s Linnaeus University Business School.
“The damage is done by those with a lot of money and the cost is borne by those with very little money,” Gossling said to The Associated Press (AP).
The individual with the highest private jet emissions in the study—who was not named—released an astonishing 2,645 tons of carbon dioxide through private flights alone, according to Gossling. This level of emissions is more than 500 times the global per capita average, which the World Bank estimates at 5.2 tons and the International Energy Agency at 4.7 tons, Gossling noted.
Jonathan Westin, executive director of the advocacy organization Climate Organizing Hub, told the AP: “This report presents further proof that billionaires are causing the climate crisis.”
Gossling’s research identified over 35,600 tons of carbon emissions stemming from private jet flights tied to five major global events: the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the 2023 World Economic Forum, the 2023 Super Bowl, the Cannes Film Festival and the 2023 United Nations climate summit in Dubai. In total, 3,500 private jet flights contributed to these emissions.
Jean Su, energy justice director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said: “It’s a grim joke that the billionaire class is flying private jets to the annual climate conferences, and the United Nations should crack down on this hypocritical practice.”
The study also analyzed over 1,200 private flights taken by high-profile actors, musicians, and filmmakers, though Gossling declined to disclose any specific names.
University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann said that the study “does shine a bright light on some of the most gluttonous emitters, i.e. the very wealthy,” but noted that individual behaviors should not be the focus, calling them “a distraction from the primary task at hand, which is decarbonizing our societal infrastructure through systematic change and policy.”
The United States dominates global private jet ownership, housing over 68 percent of the world’s private aircraft—roughly five jets per 100,000 people, the study found. Yet, private jets are present worldwide, including in lower-income nations, Gossling noted.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.