Paris to push private jet bans at EU ministers meeting
The French transport minister, Clément Beaune, has said the EU could no longer tolerate people using private jets for their personal convenience and fun, when the public was being asked to make sacrifices in the energy crisis and due to climate change. He said: “Certain types of behaviour are no longer acceptable. We have to act to regulate flights on private jets.” Everyone has to make an effort, and the super-rich should not be excluded. Also that companies might be forced to publish regular details on their use of corporate aircraft. Trips on private jets cause the emission of hugely more CO2 even than first class seats on commercial flights. Private jets are used a lot in France, and the mileage increased during Covid. Neither the EU nor France is considering an outright ban on business jets because of their role in the world economy. But it is considering heavy taxation and restrictions on their use in France, especially for short trips where there is a good train service. But the bill is unlikely to be passed by the government. Earlier the French government banned flights on internal trips where the train takes under 2 and a half hours.
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Paris to push private jet bans at EU ministers meeting
By Théo Bourgery-Gonse | EURACTIV
22.8.2022
Beaune, a former Europe minister, has clarified in an interview in Le Parisien that the EU must act as one on this matter to ensure that all “have the same rules and impact is maximised”. He intends to add the matter to the agenda of the next meeting of European transport ministers in October.
Minister of Transport Clément Beaune said he is ready to put banning private jet flights on the agenda of the European transport ministers meeting in October following public backlash from revelations regarding the private jet emissions of France’s wealthy.
Beaune, a former Europe minister, has clarified in an interview in Le Parisien that the EU must act as one on this matter to ensure that all “have the same rules and impact is maximised”. He intends to add the matter to the agenda of the next meeting of European transport ministers in October.
An informal meeting of transport ministers is currently foreseen for 20-21 October 2022 in Prague.
If an outright ban is not an option, the Minister of Transport Clément Beaune said he is ready to “act and regulate private jet flights”.
Several Twitter accounts aiming to keep track of French billionaires’ private jet flights have flourished in recent weeks. The leading “I Fly Bernard” account, about French billionaire and LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, seeks to make public “the ecocidal lifestyle” of France’s richest.
On Friday, it was revealed that Bolloré Group’s private jet had carried out three flights on the same day, releasing 22 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, the average car emissions over 10 years.
The same day French Green National Secretary Julien Bayou announced the government wanted an EU-wide response.
Bayou told the daily Libération that it is now time to “ban all private jets. This measure would have an impact on a very small number of people, with immense ecological benefits.” He announced last Friday that he would be tabling a cross-party bill on the matter in the coming weeks.
“Some people are totally disconnected and take the plane like others take the metro,” Bayou added.
“When the government refuses to tax companies who are making huge profits from the energy crisis we’re experiencing, it sends a clear message: impunity for the richest,” explained Bayou.
“How can we ask the population to make an effort if the richest are exempt from everything?”
The government has followed suit, wary of suggesting that rules apply differently between the richest and the rest of the population, especially when “energy sobriety” is at the top of the government’s priorities.
Beaune also says he is ready to broaden the remit of the new EU’s emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) proposals to include private jets. The bloc-wide revamp of the ETS is currently on the table as part of the bloc’s aim to reach a 55% cut in emissions by 2030, known as the ‘Fit for 55’ package. Less restrictive options, such as making all private jet flights public, are also under consideration.
The worst country in Europe for private jet pollution is revealed
Which country in Europe is the worst culprit for private jet pollution?
By Maeve Campbell (Euro News)
3/06/2021
Britain has been found to be the worst culprit for private air travel pollution in Europe, according to new research.
The report by Transport & Environment (T&E) shows that CO2 emissions in Europe increased by nearly a third between 2005 and 2019. Flights that entered or left the UK accounted for nearly a fifth of these emissions, making it the most polluting country.
The findings are particularly pertinent as ongoing debates continue in the EU over a green deal and the potential of bringing in a frequent flyer tax.
During the 14-year time period scrutinised, private jet emissions rose even faster than those of commercial aviation. The research discovered private jets are 10 times more ‘carbon intensive’ than airliners on average and 50 times more polluting than trains.
Transport & Environment also looked at the use of private planes last year, when the majority of us were under nationally imposed lockdowns. While flights were being cancelled and we all stayed at home, private jet traffic actually returned to pre-pandemic levels by August 2020, as high-flyers (pun intended) took travel into their own hands.
Six of the most polluting routes for private aviation either arrive or depart from London airports, according to the study.
But alongside the UK, France also ranked highly for private jet usage, with the countries together representing almost 40 per cent of emissions in Europe.
Perhaps one of the most shocking insights from the report is that 78 per cent of UK flights are described as “short hops within Europe”. Despite the plane shaming movement taking off in recent years, spearheaded by activist Greta Thunberg herself, it seems tourists are still taking to the skies for their summer holidays.
As private jet owners have an average wealth of €1.3 billion, the report suggests that they could be part of the solution. With wealth on their side, they could pay for the development of greener technology to help accelerate innovation and “clean flying” for everyone.
“Flying on a private jet is probably the worst thing you can do for the environment. And yet, super-rich super polluters are flying around like there’s no climate crisis,” says Andrew Murphy, Aviation Director at T&E.
“The upside is that the private jet market is ideally suited to help bring about aviation’s Tesla moment, making hydrogen and electric planes a reality.”
As private jet owners have an average wealth of €1.3 billion, the report suggests that they could be part of the solution.
Another way jet owners could do their bit is by paying a proportional amount of tax to match the carbon impact of their flights. Currently private jets are untaxed in most European nations because of exemptions from the EU’s carbon pricing scheme (EU ETS) and untaxed kerosene.
T&E calculates that a jet fuel tax applied to flight distances could raise €325 million per year if applied to all flights departing from the EU and UK. Revenues raised in this way could be used to accelerate the decarbonisation of the aviation sector.
“European policymakers need to urgently start taxing fossil-fuel powered private jets and ban their use by 2030. The revenues raised from the super-rich could be invested in greener technology that could clean up flying for everyone,” concludes Murphy.
https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/06/03/the-worst-country-in-europe-for-private-jet-pollution-is-revealed
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Rising use of private jets (most in UK using Luton and Farnborough) sends CO2 emissions soaring
An analysis by campaign group, Transport & Environment, has found that CO2 from private jets in Europe increased by about a third between 2005 and 2019. Flights that entered or left the UK accounted for nearly a fifth of these emissions, giving the UK the largest share of any European country. Private jet use continued in 2020. By August 2020, when the number of commercial flights was about 60% down in the UK, the level of private jet use was almost as high as in 2019. Of the top ten highest carbon private flight routes that take off or land in Europe (the 27 EU members plus Britain, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland) six involved either Luton or Farnborough airports. The Luton to Teterboro New York route had the highest private jet emissions, with 565 flights a year, despite a commercial alternative routes between Heathrow and John F Kennedy airport. The private jet sector has grown rapidly, and provides convenience for the very rich, and the ability to reduce personal Covid infection risk at airports, and in crowded planes. The CO2 emissions from a private jet, with very few passengers, is hugely more per person (5 to 14 times) than on a commercial flight – even first class. The inequity of private jet use, and the huge climate impact, mean the sector should be under the spotlight, especially for the UK in the year it hosts the COP26 talks, in November in Glasgow.
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