A non-public jet lands over the snowy mountains of St. Moritz in Switzerland. Private jet emissions, which have a disproportionate impact on the environment, were found to greater than double in Europe in 2022.
Image Alliance | Image Alliance | Getty’s paintings
The boom in private jet aviation shows no signs of slowing down.
An evaluation published on Thursday by the environmental group Greenpeace showed that the number of personal jet flights in Europe increased by as much as 64% last yr to a record high of 572,806.
It found that emissions from private jets, which have a disproportionate impact on the environment, greater than doubled in Europe in 2022, exceeding the annual per capita carbon emissions of the European Union’s 550,000 inhabitants.
More than half (55%) of Europe’s private jet flights last yr were very short trips of lower than 750 kilometers (466 miles), Greenpeace said, noting that these were trips that might be made by train or ferry.
It comes at a time when Europe is in a grip severe winter drought and shortly after the region’s driest summer in not less than 500 years. Scientists warned in late January that the dearth of groundwater across the continent meant the water situation was now “very precarious”.
“The alarming increase in private jet flights is totally at odds with all climate science, which tells us to chop CO2 emissions immediately to avoid total catastrophe,” said Klara Maria Schenk, transport campaigner for Greenpeace Mobility for All.
“The immediate reduction of oil-powered transport is clear, starting with the ban on wasting energy and highly polluting private jets, which offer individuals with no value but burden them with harmful emissions, toxic microparticles and noise, harming our climate, environment and health,” Schenk said. .
The evaluation showed that the countries with essentially the most private jet flights in Europe last yr were the UK, France and Germany.
The hottest private jet destinations in Europe in 2022 were Nice on the French Riviera, Paris, the French capital, and Switzerland’s second most populous city, Geneva.
Growing demand
Greenpeace said the study, which was carried out by Dutch consulting firm CE Delft, was based on data provided by Cirium analytics firm. It assessed all private flights departing from and arriving in European countries between 2020 and 2022 and categorized these trips by yr, route and aircraft type.
Certain kinds of small aircraft with lower than three seats were excluded as they were mainly used for leisure purposes. The data also excludes flights to and from the identical airport and travel to and from airports without an International Air Transport Association unique code.
The number of personal jets has been on the rise for a while now. Indeed, major private jet makers are racing to maintain up with the surge in demand for the reason that starting of the coronavirus pandemic, with buyers fueling record sales for the primary time.
The boom in wealth, stronger demand for leisure and the gradual easing of Covid-19 restrictions are only a number of the aspects driving the rise in demand for personal jets.
Climate activists from Extinction Rebellion, Scientist Rebellion and Last Generation block the doorway to the airport facility of land-based operator “Milano Linate Prime” in Milan on November 10, 2022, demanding a ban on private jets, a tax on frequent flyers and the introduction of a tax on most polluters.
Piero Cruciatti | afp | Getty’s paintings
Emissions from private jets in Europe have grown faster than those from business aviation lately.
Data from NGO Transport & Environment to introduce that personal jets are as much as 14 times more polluting than business planes per passenger and as much as 50 times more polluting than trains.
That’s because in only one hour, one private jet can emit two metric tons of carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, the common person within the EU emits 8.2 metric tons of CO2 equivalent in an entire yr.
Earlier this month, the world’s leading climate scientists released a “survival guide for humanity,” calling for deep, rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
This temperature threshold corresponds to the aspirational goal of the landmark Paris Agreement.
It is widely considered a key global goal as so-called tipping points develop into more likely beyond this level of worldwide warming. Tipping points are thresholds at which small changes can result in dramatic changes in your complete life support system on Earth.
