It is often said that the rich get richer as it is easy to multiply wealth once you have it but apparently so does your carbon footprint, if you own a private aircraft.
Why? Because the high status implies that they never have to fly commercial and always take a private jet thus releasing tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in fact it starts at a level of automobiles and somehow it works it way up.
Private aircraft and carbon footprint
Writer Indrajit Samarajiva said, “As you get rich, you stop taking the bus, you drive a car, you drive a ‘sports car’. The less efficient the car is (Lamborghini, SUV, cars following you) the more it signals your wealth. As you get richer, you fly more, you fly private, and you begin emitting hideous amounts of carbon. And this is cool. This is desirable. This is #goals.”
According to a report in Treehugger, in November 2022, activists from Exctinction Rebellion climbed the fences around Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and swarmed private jets keeping them from moving. The move against a private aircraft takes the battle to a different level.
“The super rich have got used to polluting as they please with a total disregard for people and the planet, and private jets are the pinnacle of these luxury emissions that we simply cannot afford. Our action brought them back to earth. We wanted to show the extremeness and injustice related to this manner of transport,” said activist Jonathan Leggett.
Extinction Rebellion also issued a statement; “The wealthy ‘jet set’ is responsible for most of the fights and the highest carbon emissions, and nothing is being done to stop them. They are allowed to just carry on producing huge amounts of CO2, while people who are less well off suffer the burden of the climate crisis. This is unfair and unacceptable. It is high time aviation starts complying with the Paris climate agreement.”
Greenpeace reported that private jets cause 10 times the greenhouse gas emissions of a regular flight per passenger and 50 times more than an average train ride in Europe. Intercept writers Christopher Ketchum and Charles Komanoff say private flying is the “true fountainhead of climate disorder”.
Tax the super rich
British Charity Campaign for Better Transport is demanding that people flying on private jets pay 10 times the current rate for domestic and European travel, which would be noticed even by the super rich; the rate schedule is ridiculously complicated but the air passenger duty is not cheap even now. The government says it is already charging a lot with a new band of rates for the longest distance on the smaller plane.
However it is quite unlikely that all this protesting and complaining by charities is going to make a difference unfortunately most ultra wealthy people aren’t going to be shamed into reducing their carbon footprint. They will continue using their private aircraft.