CO2 emissions from private jets rose 46% between 2019 and 2023, research shows – as billionaire owners including Taylor Swift create almost 500 times more CO2 in a year than the average person

While the rest of us worry about recycling and using paper straws, a new study shows that the super-rich are polluting more than ever.

Despite being owned by just 0.003 percent of the population, research shows that private jets owned by the wealthy make an ‘excessive’ contribution to climate change.

Scientists from Linnaeus University in Sweden found that private jets produced 15.6 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) in 2023, a 46 percent increase from 2019.

The most frequent flyers each produced 2,400 tons of emissions in 2023 – more than 500 times as much as the average person.

Last year, ultra-rich plane owners – including pop star Taylor Swift and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos – flew nearly 26,000 hours on 4,301,561 individual flights.

However, the researchers say that a significant proportion of these journeys could have been made by car or other means of transport.

Almost half of private jet flights taken in 2023 traveled less than 500 kilometers – roughly the distance from Edinburgh to London – while almost 5 percent traveled less than 50 kilometers.

Lead author Professor Stefan Gössling told MailOnline: ‘It does show that among the very rich we have many people with an excessive ecological footprint.’

Professor Gössling and his colleagues analyzed flight data from 18,655,789 private flights operated by 25,993 private ‘business jet’ aircraft between 2019 and 2023.

Using the fuel consumption, flight times and trajectory of each aircraft, they were able to calculate how much CO2 each flight produced.

On average, each flight produced around 3.6 tonnes of CO2 – just one tonne less than an individual Briton produces in an entire year.

While the number of flights taken fell during the Covid pandemic, the ultra-rich took more private flights in 2023 than ever before.

In total, private emissions contributed approximately 1.8 percent of all aviation emissions in 2023.

However, this enormous ecological footprint is concentrated among just a handful of individuals around the world.

According to industry estimates, private aviation is used by 256,000 elite people with a combined wealth of $31 trillion (£23.85 trillion).

Despite only 4 percent of the world’s population living there, 68 percent of all private jets were registered in the US.

Brazil had the second highest number (3.5 percent) of the world’s aircraft, followed by Canada, Germany, Mexico and Britain.

However, it was Malta that had the highest concentration of private jets, with more than 46 private jets per 100,000 inhabitants.

This elite group of private jet owners includes some of the richest individuals in the world and the most famous celebrities.

Research has shown that Taylor Swift is the celebrity who produces the most emissions due to her frequent jet use.

In 2022, even before the start of the Era tour, researchers estimated that Taylor’s jet spent 22,923 minutes in flight and produced 8,293.54 tons of CO2.

That means the queen of pop created 1,184 times more emissions than the average person just to make ends meet.

Shockingly, Taylor’s average flight time was just 80 minutes and he traveled just 140 miles (225 kilometers) – a distance the star could have easily covered.

Similarly, Jeff Bezos’ two private jets spent nearly 25 days in flight in 2023 and produced as much CO2 as the average American citizen does in 207 years.

The data not only reveals the carbon costs of living a jet-setting lifestyle, but also shows how these private jets are used.

Professor Gössling and his colleagues found that private jet use peaked at weekends and in summer, suggesting that these planes are mainly used for leisure.

This is despite the fact that private jet flights in the US can be written off as a tax-deductible business expense.

“We show that many of their flights are leisure flights and not business flights,” says Professor Gössling.

Similarly, the researchers found that major international events were associated with particularly high volumes of private jet use.

During COP28 – a climate conference held in Dubai last year – there were 644 private flights that produced 4,800 tonnes of CO2.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup, meanwhile, involved 1,846 private flights that produced 14,700 tons of CO2.

Interestingly, the researchers also saw significant overlap between aircraft attending different international events.

For example, of the 595 aircraft that attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, 172 also served the Cannes Film Festival.

However, because many aircraft are chartered, it is not necessarily clear whether these are the same people.

The researchers argue that although these jets produce a small amount of CO2 compared to total global emissions, it is crucial that these ultra-wealthy individuals face greater scrutiny.

In light of these findings, Professor Gössling calls for policies that force wealthy individuals to pay more for their flights.

That includes preventing people from writing off their leisure flights as business expenses, adding a carbon charge of 600 (£500) per tonne, and ‘dramatically’ increasing landing charges to prevent short flights.

Professor Gössling concludes: ‘If we don’t force the biggest emitters to pay the cost of their emissions, how can we ask anyone else?’