EU Transport Council’s decision on private jets

by | 02 Jun 2023 | Press Release, Private Jets

Another missed opportunity to tackle luxury emissions

2nd of June, 2023 – Stay Grounded, a global network of more than 200 members organisations, has responded to the decision made by EU Transport Commissioner Adina Vălean to rule out a ban on private jets yesterday. Despite pressure for tighter environmental regulations on private jets from the member states Austria, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Ireland, the Commissioner said she has “no intention” to implement new measures to tackle private aviation emissions.

Magdalena Heuwieser, spokesperson at Stay Grounded said: “This is another missed opportunity to target the unfair luxury emissions of the super-rich. But no need to wait for the EU level to ban private jets. As the success in Amsterdam shows, bans can also be implemented at airport – as well as country – level.”

The Commissioner said on Thursday, instead of targeting private jets, she wants to tackle aviation as a whole. “Let’s do both“, counters Magdalena Heuwieser. “Private jets are the pinnacle of climate injustice – no one will miss them except some ultra-rich, and it would be an important sign for the general public. However, we know that flights in general are very unfairly distributed. 1% of the world population causes 50% of all aviation emissions, while 80% have never set foot on an airplane. Just banning private jets would of course not tackle this problem. We propose a Frequent Flyer Levy that would target all excessive flights in a just way.”  

Stay Grounded currently leads a campaign demanding a ban on private jets, a ban of frequent flyer programmes, and a frequent flyer levy.

Just last week, one hundred climate activists from 17 countries had disrupted Europe’s largest private jet fair, the annual European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva. “We need to keep up the pressure in order to achieve just climate measures as quickly as possible – current heat waves, droughts and wild fires all over the world show again that the climate crisis is here already, and will only get worse if nothing is done“, Magdalena Heuwieser concludes

PRESS CONTACT:

Stay Grounded, Magdalena Heuwieser, +43 (0) 670 3534311, press@stay-grounded.org