How Taylor Swift, Drake and celebrities with private jets affect the climate

Using data from a popular Twitter account that tracks celebrity jet movements based on public information, the report stated that planes affiliated with celebrities emitted an average of more than 3,376 metric tons of CO2 — roughly 480 times more than an average person’s annual emissions. The report, which was not peer-reviewed and features a prominent disclaimer about its analysis, includes the names of a handful of celebrities, at least two of whom have publicly disputed the list, saying that the flight data affiliated with them does not reflect their actual usage.

Taylor Swift’s plane was identified by the report as the “biggest celebrity CO2e polluter this year so far,” racking up 170 flights since January with emissions totaling more than 8,293 metric tons. A plane affiliated with boxer Floyd Mayweather came in second, emitting about 7,076 metric tons of CO2, with one logged trip only lasting 10 minutes.

Jay-Z, who could not be reached for comment, was listed third. After publication, a lawyer for Jay-Z told The Washington Post the rapper does not own the private jet in question; Rolling Stone reported that the flight data used in the analysis is from a plane tied to Puma and attributed to Jay-Z for his relationship with the brand.

Kylie Jenner gets roasted for flaunting private jet in climate crisis

In a statement to The Post, a spokesperson for Swift said: “Taylor’s jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals. To attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect.” Representatives for Mayweather did not respond to a request for comment.

While the analysis notes that its list is “not conclusive” and there is “no way to determine if these celebrities were on all the recorded flights,” the authors emphasized that the purpose of the report is to “highlight the damaging impact of private jet usage” — a reality that is critically important for frequent fliers and the public to recognize, according to several experts who were not involved in studying the flight data. Many other people also often rely on private jets, including politicians, government officials, athletes, business executives and wealthy individuals.

“A short jump with a private jet requires lofting into the air a 10- to 20-ton jet and then moving it from point A to point B,” said Peter DeCarlo, an associate professor of environmental health and engineering at Johns Hopkins University who studies atmospheric air pollution. “I know no one likes being stuck in traffic, but you’re not launching your car into the air. … The act of taking a huge piece of metal and putting it up into the sky is going to be an enormous carbon footprint that’s really not necessary, especially for these kinds of short distances.”

And although DeCarlo and other experts acknowledged that a blanket ban on private jet travel, which can fill essential transportation needs in certain situations, isn’t the solution, they encouraged people — especially celebrities with significant social influence — to consider the environmental impact of their choices and the message they could be sending.

“There are valid statements that grounding private jets probably isn’t going to do what we need to head in the right direction regarding climate change, but it’s just really bad optics,” DeCarlo said. If people look up to celebrities as role models, “they want to emulate that behavior. Then, a private jet becomes a status symbol and something that people aspire to, and that’s not what we need right now in the context of climate.”

Counting the environmental cost

A report published last year by Transport & Environment, a major European clean transport campaign group, found that a single private jet can emit 2 metric tons of CO2 in just an hour. To put that in context, the average person in the E.U. produces about 8.2 tons of emissions over the course…