Emissions from private jets are soaring

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More private jets are taking to the skies now than there were four years ago. Credit: Joan Valls/Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty

A global analysis of private-jet use shows that the number of aircraft, trips and the distance planes covered have all soared over the past four years, exacerbating the sector’s carbon dioxide emissions. Between 2019 and 2023, the number of private flights rose to more than four million a year, increasing emissions by 46%. The study, which was published on 7 November in Communications Earth and Environment1, found that private flights produced 15.6 million tonnes of CO2 last year, and identified events that they were concentrated around, including the COP28 climate summit in Dubai last year.

This work “is so important in the light of global warming and the absolute inequalities that we have across the world,” says Milan Klöwer, who researches the impact of aviation on global warming at the University of Oxford, UK. “While private aviation is obviously a small share of commercial aviation, it really shows how disproportionately they're just burning the planet.”

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