The Environmental Impact of Superyacht and Private Jet Emissions
The superyacht and private jet emissions of the richest people are worsening the climate crisis.
The global working class, who have the lowest emissions, face the worst of this crisis.
Let’s look at the human and environmental cost of polluting private jets and superyachts and how to address their weighty impact...
Tax private jets and superyachts
Fight climate inequality - call for fair taxes for the most polluting luxury travel
Why we need higher taxes on private jets and superyachts
Fasten your seatbelts – it's time to land higher taxes on private jets and superyachts. Here’s why...
Climate action
The climate crisis isn't in the future, it's here now. Polluters must pay for the damage they've caused. So all of us can thrive.
How Are Private Jet Emissions Damaging the Environment?
Private jets burn far more carbon per passenger than commercial flights. A private jet flight from London to Paris, for example, is 6 times more polluting per passenger than a commercial flight.
This route by private jet would be 12 times more polluting per passenger than a petrol car, and 180 times more polluting per passenger than a Eurostar train.
Fair taxes in the UK on polluting private jets and superyachts could have raised £2 billion to support communities hit first and worst by climate change.
From higher, more proportionate Air Passenger Duty (APD) for private jets.
From a combination of new taxes as well as super-charged rates of existing taxes.
From a 20% tax on superyacht ownership.
It’s difficult to believe, but it would take the average UK citizen almost 11 years to emit as much carbon as a single long range private jet emits in a round trip from London to New York.
Meanwhile, millions of people facing poverty, who’ve done the least to cause the climate crisis, are paying the highest price – loss of loved ones to flooding and drought, damage to homes by storms, and higher bills when food and fuel is scarce.
An Oxfam report found that the carbon emissions of the richest 1% of people are enough to cause 1.3 million excess deaths due to heat. This is climate inequality.
What Is Being Done to Reduce Superyacht and Private Jet Emissions?
It is essential that emissions from private jets and superyachts fall significantly, but at the moment, not enough is being done by those in power to reduce these emissions.
Oxfam hopes that increasing taxes on private jets and superyachts would discourage their use as well as raise new finance. It is therefore vital that these highly polluting activities are taxed heavily enough to discourage their use, and Oxfam has laid out a number of ways to do that.
Oxfam is one of a number of organisations, including Tax Justice UK and Patriotic Millionaires, calling for higher taxes on the polluting behaviour of the richest. Together we can build the pressure on the UK and Scottish Governments for the change we need to see.
Further steps to better tax extreme wealth are needed to accelerate climate action and tackle inequality, but properly taxing private jets and superyachts is a common-sense place to start.
By making polluters pay we can also raise vital funds for investing in the UK’s own fair transition to a fossil free future – like supercharging community renewable energy projects or investing properly in affordable, accessible and clean public transport that benefits everyone.
The Carbon Footprint of Superyachts
Superyachts, like private jets, are symbols of extreme luxury that come with a significant environmental cost.
In October 2024 Oxfam will be publishing striking new statistics that reveal how the high emissions of superyachts compare to those of the average person.
Emissions from billionaire lifestyles, including their private jets and yachts, are thousands of times the average person’s. Those who fly on private jets and sail on superyachts also contribute little in tax relative to their environmental impact — leaving room for much-needed reform.
Call for Superyachts and Private Jets to Be Taxed
The environmental impact of superyachts and private jets is clear. It's time to take action.
Across the UK, fair taxes on the use of private jets and super yachts could raise up to £2 billion a year for climate action and incentivise those who use them to stop.
- Sign our open letter calling for fair taxation of luxury transport and be part of the fight against climate inequality.
- Read about a planet for the 99%.
- Read about how much fair taxes on the UK’s biggest polluters could have raised last year to combat the climate crisis.