On January 30, 2024, Taylor Swift took a 13-minute flight on her private jet. X account @SwiftJetNextDay posted this information shortly afterwards, with the Marquette Messenger later revealing the carbon output from this brief flight to be a whopping 2 tons of emissions. The backlash from Swift’s trip brought attention to the impacts of air transportation — short flights in particular — and represents a small incident among the wider issue of how aviation affects the atmosphere.
Air Travel’s Carbon Footprint
As of 2019, the International Air Transport Association says 3% of global carbon emissions came from air travel. This may not appear monumental on its own; however, this represents 20% of the total carbon emissions from every transportation method combined, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Burning jet fuel is the primary suspect to high greenhouse gas emissions from flights. While planes have become more fuel-efficient, the sheer volume of flights combats this. Global reliance on aircrafts makes it difficult to counteract the environmental harm from aviation, especially as air travel is expected to become more accessible in the coming years.
How Short Flights are Disproportionately Harmful
While all forms of air travel release significant levels of carbon into the atmosphere, short-haul flights are the worst, comparatively. Short-haul flights take between 30 minutes and three hours, with medium and long-haul flights taking upwards of three to six hours. Considering this, Swift’s referenced flight is among the shortest of short-haul travel possible, which sparked an examination into the differences in environmental harm between flight distances.
The disparity between the environmental impacts of these flight distances arises when the actual amount of carbon emissions per kilometer is considered. Because fuel consumption among aircraft carriers is highest during takeoff and landing, short-haul flights release 251 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer, compared to long-haul flights at 195 grams. Despite the more reaching distances, long-haul flights are more environmentally friendly than shorter ones. But should we really consider 200 grams of carbon per kilometer of travel to be “environmentally friendly?”
The Rise in Alternative Transportation Methods
In a strategy called the European Green Deal, the EU has made a commitment to becoming a net-zero emissions economy within the next 26 years. A portion of this plan includes making greater investments into the continent’s railroad systems. Railroads are among the most environmentally-sound forms of transportation, carrying large quantities of passengers while also producing a mere fraction of the carbon emissions aircraft travel does — especially in short-haul travel.
Sustainable Travel Initiatives
As aviation’s impact on greenhouse gasses has become more widely recognized in recent years, several airline companies have introduced offset programs with their flights. Carbon offsetting does not reduce emissions from the flights themselves; rather, they contribute to investments in carbon reduction projects, which can aid in “compensating” for the atmospheric harm these flights do produce.
While Swift should not be illuminated as the sole participant in unsustainable travel practices, her hasty flight emphasizes how environmentally consequential aviation is. Adopting more ecologically-conscious travel habits can help in reducing the global carbon footprint from air travel. It is only through significant change that future generations can know a planet with minimal atmospheric damage from air travel.