PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Severe criticism of singer Taylor Swift's private jet travel has been brewing on social media for weeks, with people pointing out the global warming carbon dioxide emissions released on each flight. ing.
The megastar is dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, one of the most famous players in the NFL. Their growing romance has drawn attention, with Swift traveling a lot on a private jet and appearing at several games. The chatter has gotten even louder in recent days after the Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday to advance to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas on February 11th.
Swift, a pop culture hitmaker whose first tour grossed more than $1 billion, is among a long list of celebrities, government officials and elite businessmen who have come under intense scrutiny for their private jet travel. He is the newest person. Swift's recent trip, carbon emissions from private jets and commercial aircraft, and one of the controversial yet most popular solutions to combating such pollution has emerged.
SWIFT's carbon footprint
If Swift attends the Super Bowl, she will be traveling from Tokyo, where she is on tour. This means he will travel more than 19,400 miles (30,500 kilometers) in just under two weeks on a private jet. How much carbon dioxide will that amount to?
Gregory Keolian, co-director of the University of Michigan's Center for Sustainable Systems, said the exact carbon footprint depends on many factors, including flight route and number of passengers, but rough estimates can be made. Traveling 19,400 miles in one of Swift's jets, a Dassault Falcon 900LX, can emit more than 200,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, he said.
That's about 14 times more than the average American household emits in a year, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
How realistic business travel will be for Swift is up for debate. After all, she's so famous that even if she wanted to, boarding a commercial flight could be confusing for airline crews and the public airports she frequents. Keolian said there are other important ways public figures on private planes can address climate change, including through influencing public attitudes, perceptions, investment and voting.
Julia Stein, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, said the controversy over Swift's use of a private jet highlights the “huge disparity” between wealthy and low-income people when it comes to per capita greenhouse gas emissions. He said there was.
“[With Swift]you can see this playing out on a kind of microcosmic scale, but it also applies historically to carbon emissions in developed countries,” she says.
Others have been examined
Swift is the latest of many globe-trotting celebrities to come under scrutiny for environmental pollution. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Leonardo DiCaprio, and many others regularly make headlines for traveling on private jets.
Jeff Colgan, a political science professor at Brown University, said: “It's surprising that Ms. Swift has provoked so much ire when the vast majority of private jet passengers are men over 50.'' It's the right thing to do,” he said. “In reality, we should be focusing on a broader group of people.”
Big events, from the Olympics to the annual United Nations climate change summit, have also been criticized because thousands of people fly in to attend, and all travel contributes to climate change.
All air travel produces emissions, but private jets produce far more emissions per person. A 2023 study by the Institute for Policy Studies found that private jets emit at least 10 times more pollutants per passenger than airliners.
carbon offset
One often-discussed way to address pollution from air travel is to pay for carbon offsets, which aim to balance the emissions produced. For example, trees absorb carbon from the atmosphere, so offset programs include planting trees that, at least in theory, offset pollution from air travel.
Gates defended his private jet travel, saying he buys offsets and supports clean technology and other sustainability efforts. A spokesperson for Swift did not respond to a request from The Associated Press, but told The Washington Post that Swift is purchasing offsets. A spokesperson did not provide further details.
Still, there are many questions about the effectiveness of offsets. Regulations are lax, and recent media investigations have found that some programs overestimate carbon capture or engage in questionable practices.
“Offsetting remains a climate change wilderness, rife with fraud, project failures and questionable effectiveness,” said Jonathan Foley, executive director of Project Drawdown, an organization promoting climate solutions. said. Success will depend on how the forest is managed over the long term. ”
Foley, along with many climate scientists and policy experts, argues that instead of offsetting air travel, it would be much better to significantly reduce the use of planes, especially private jets, while developing cleaner fuels. are doing. Several airlines are also developing airplanes that run on electricity and emit no emissions.
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