The carbon contamination of private airplanes has shot in the last five years, with most of those small planes that throw more carbon dioxide that catch heat in approximately two hours of flight than the average person in approximately one year, according to A new study.

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Around a quarter of the super rich, worth a total of $ 31 billion, last year issued 17.2 million tons (15.6 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide in private airplanes, according to Thursday’s study in The Nature Journal Communications Earth & Environment. That is approximately the same amount as the 67 million people living in Tanzania,

Private airplanes emissions increased 46% from 2019 to 2023, according to the European research team that calculated those figures when examining more than 18.6 million flights of approximately 26,000 planes for five years.

Only 1.8% of aviation carbon pollution is thrown by private jets and aviation as a whole is responsible for approximately 4% of heat capture gases caused by humans, according to the study.

It may seem like a small amount, but it is a matter of equity and priorities, said the main author of the study, Stefan Gossling, transport researcher at the University of Linnaeus at the Sweden Business School.

“The damage is done by those with a lot of money and the cost is supported by those with very little money,” Gossling said.

The highest private Jet user than the team tracked, but did not identify by name, threw 2,645 tons (2,400 metric tons) carbon dioxide in the use of the plane, Gossling said. That is more than 500 times the global average per person of 5.2 tons (4.7 metric tons) that the World Bank calculates or the 4.7 tons (4.3 metric tons) that the International Energy Agency complies and appointment.

“This report presents more evidence that billionaires are causing the climatic crisis,” said Jonathan Westin, executive director of the Climate Organizing Hub Defense Organization. “They cling to their private airplanes and oil gains, while regular people see floods, hurricanes and forest fires.”

Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency calculated that the 1% higher in the world of super stations had carbon footprints more than 1,000 times larger than the poorest 1% of the globe.

The Gossling study told more than 35,600 tons (32,300 metric tons) of carbon contamination of only five global events: the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the 2023 World Economic Forum of 2023, Super Bowl of 2023, the Cannes Film Festival 2023 and the United Nations Climate Negotiations of 2023 in Dubai in Dubai in Dubai In Dubai. That came from 3,500 private jet flights.

“It is a gloomy joke that the billionaire class is flying private airplanes to annual climatic conferences, and the United Nations should take energetic measures against this hypocritical practice,” said Jean Su, director of Energy Justice of the Center for Biological Diversity.

The researchers also examined more than 1,200 flights from famous actors, singers and directors, but Gossling refused to give the names of public figures.

Many private flights are not even business “nor are they necessary,” said Gossling. “They are often related to lifestyle.”

While the study “shines a brilliant light on some of the most gluttons emitters, that is, the very rich,” said the climate scientist of the University of Pennsylvania, Michael Mann, that the approach should not be in individual behaviors and the Carbon footprint of someone. He called it “a distraction of the main task in question, which is to decarbonize our social infrastructure through systematic change and politics.”

That is the problem, Gossling said.

“We have been told for a long time that it is the system that needs to change, not the individual,” said Gossling. “That has meant that no one has been responsible for their lifestyles.”

“The problem is that the 26,000 airplanes and the people who use them will say ‘we are only a small group. We are not relevant in terms of emissions. But everyone else will look at the small group and say: ‘Look, these are the super emitters, if they are not relevant, how can we be relevant? “Gossling said.” And then they have this pointing to each other from two different groups that block us in a circular argument. “

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About 51% of these private planes burn at least 239 gallons of fuel per hour. This translates into more carbon emissions in two hours and a minute than the estimation of the IEA of the 4.7 tons per year of the average person (4.3 metric tons) of pollutants, calculated the study.

“Since technology will not solve (climate change), I think the answer is clear. We have to start at the top, ”said Gossling.

Gossling said that the way of addressing high flight emissions is to collect a tax or a landing rate equivalent to the damage caused by each ton of emissions. That is about $ 200 or 200 euros. Westin asked for a private Jet ban.

The United States is, with much, the private aircraft center with more than 68% of private aircraft, approximately 5 per 100,000 people, according to the study. But Gossling said private planes are everywhere, even in poor countries.

In the United States, Alaska has the largest amount of private flights to reaction per person, almost 5,000 per 100,000 residents, according to a different study of the Rustic Pathway student travel company.