You don’t need to be a climate change expert to know that flying pollutes, and a lot. Aviation is responsible for 2% of global CO2 emissions, according to the TMAS aeronautical disclosure website. A fact that becomes even more evident when we talk about private jets, in which far fewer people are transported with even more harmful consequences for the planet. Indeed, it is estimated that crossing the Atlantic in a private plane generates the same emissions as a European household over six years.
With this reality in mind, activists from Greenpeace, Extinction Rebellion, Fridays for Future and Friends of the Earth staged a noisy demonstration at Palma airport on Tuesday, protesting against the increase in this type of flights. In addition, and on the occasion of the Carnival Parade, they will do the same next Sunday, February 19 at 5:00 p.m. through a performance in the Plaza de España of the Balearic capital, for which they will use a giant cardboard plane. The actions are included in the international campaign make them pay, who asks whoever pollutes the most to pay more.
The choice of Palma for the dispute is not accidental. As environmentalists denounce, the airport of the Majorcan city recorded 19,618 movements of private jets in 2022, 3% more than in 2021, positioning itself as the Spanish airport that hosts the most private flights, ahead of Ibiza and Madrid, according to data from the European Commercial Aviation Association ( EBAA).
A few pollute a lot
As Greenpeace explained in a statement, moreover, private jets are “the most polluting and unequal form of transport on this planet”, given that their percentage of frequent flyers, which barely touches 1% of the world’s population it accounts for more than half of the total emissions from commercial flights. Added to this is another striking fact: 80% of the world’s population has never traveled by plane.
As Greenpeace explains, private jets emit on average 1.3 kilograms of CO2 per person per kilometer, ten times more than a regular flight and up to 50 times more than an average train journey in Europe. Knowing that the annual carbon footprint of the European Union is 8.2 tons of CO2 per person, four hours of this type of aircraft is equivalent to the total emissions of one person in one year in the European Union.
“In a context where the public has been urged to save energy as much as possible, the super-rich continue to indulge in excessive waste of energy traveling in private jets that propel us towards climate catastrophe,” denounced Greenpeace spokesman Francisco Javier Soto.
Environmental organizations have also pointed out that, according to data from the International Council for Clean Transportation, the application of a progressive taxation, that collects a frequent flyer tax, revenue can be generated to fairly decarbonize the aviation sector.