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A spokesperson from Taylor Swift‘s camp has come out to condemn the claims about her private jet’s carbon emission, calling them blatantly incorrect. A recent survey circulated two days ago claiming that Taylor Swift’s private plane was the number one CO2e offender. However, the sustainability marketing firm Yard claims didn’t sit well with the pop star’s team.
Claims About Taylor’s Private Jet Usage Are Blatantly Incorrect
According to the survey, Taylor Swift’s private jet has embarked on 170 trips from January to July 2022. This equals 15.9 days in the air, with an average flight time of 80 minutes and 139.36 miles per trip. The stated number of trips contributes to the flight’s emissions for the year. Emissions for the plane were calculated at 8,293.54 tonnes. This is 1,184.8 times higher than an average person’s total annual emissions.
In response to the survey, a spokesperson from Taylor Swift’s camp defended the star’s private jet usage. The spokesperson, who declined further comments, stated to the Guardian that the jet is regularly loaned out to other individuals. This means that Taylor Swift’s team believes that the circulated emission offenders’ list may not be entirely correct.
Sustainability Marketing Film Yard got the list from the Celebrity Jets Twitter account, which disclosed that Taylor Swift isn’t the only celebrity with such private jet emission issues.
Taylor and Other Celebrities’ Jet Emission Issues
Travis Scott, Kylie Jenner, Drake, and Alex Rodriguez were also called out by fans for their flight usage. The celebrities received backlash for taking short flights during the climate crisis. Drake tried to defend his use of a vast private plane. He stated that his $185m Boeing 767 was being moved from a storage location without passengers on board.
Kylie Jenner’s flight in July with her private plane lasted for only 17 minutes. While Travis Scott, Kylie’s boyfriend, ranked number 10 on the worst offenders list. Drake or Jenner didn’t feature on the list.
Taylor Swift was closely followed by Floyd Mayweather on the private jet top ten emission offenders’ list. The boxer’s plane had emissions of 7,076.8 tonnes of CO2, while Jay-z’s had 6,981.3 tonnes.
Digital Sustainability Director for Yard talked about the rich and famous being major contributors to the CO2e problem in the aviation industry. In his words:
“It’s easy to get lost in the dazzling lives of the rich and famous, but, unfortunately, they’re a massive part of the CO2e problem we have with the aviation industry. Aviation is responsible for 2.4% of human-produced CO2e every year, and research shows a vast divide between the super-rich and the rest of us regarding flights, travel, and even general emissions.”
However, Yard issued a disclaimer that the research wasn’t restricted to the biggest offenders. The list was curated according to data gotten from the Celebrity Jets Twitter Page. The survey also could not ascertain whether the ‘offenders’ were on each flight.