Issues and Concerns
Climate and Pollution
Air transportation is a major contributor to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, and expansion of private air travel is considered a dramatic move in the wrong direction when it comes to addressing climate change, and this includes electric private air travel. The majority of small private aircraft are single engine and use leaded fuel, with well-documented negative environmental impacts. “Avgas” is the only fuel in the US to contain lead. Vermont should consider the rise of private air travel within the context of its climate goals and Vermont Climate Action Plan. Air travel also emits numerous pollutants into the air, which have been well-documented to cause a range of health issues.
© Gold Wing Photography
“Emissions from aviation are growing faster than any other mode of transport.”
What is Aviation’s Contribution to Climate Change. Transport and Environment
“Emissions from aviation are a significant contributor to climate change. Airplanes burn fossil fuel which not only releases CO2 emissions but also has strong warming non-CO2 effects due to nitrogen oxides (NOx), vapor trails and cloud formation triggered by the altitude at which aircraft operate.
What is Aviation’s Contribution to Climate Change. Transport and Environment
“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 of an entire year.”
Celebrities use private jets excessively. It’s a climate nightmare. Washington Post, 2022
“In the last few decades, private jets have become an increasing source of global flight emissions, while providing very little value for most humans on earth. At the same time, the working class has carried the burden of daily sacrifices for the climate crisis.”
It’s time to ban private jets – or at least tax them to the ground. The Guardian, 2022
“If you were trying, for whatever reason, to have as large of a carbon footprint as possible, the first thing you would do is fly in a private plane. You would especially do so for very short flights, because taking off is the most energy-intensive part of any flight. A common model of a private plane burns 226 gallons of jet fuel an hour on average. And jet fuel – which is typically not taxed – emits more toxic gasses than gasoline.”
One Man’s Lonely, Lonely Fight to Ban Private Jets. Vice, 2022
“…mile for mile, flying is the most damaging way to travel for the climate.”
Should We Give Up Flying for the Sake of the Climate. BBC, 2020
Then there’s climate change. Because they typically carry so few passengers on each trip, flying private is far worse for the environment than flying commercial. According to a report by Transport & Environment, a European group that advocates zero-emissions transportation, “private jets are on average 10 times more carbon intensive than commercial flights.”
Private Jet Travel Is Booming. And Shameful. And We’re All Paying For It. New York Times, 2023
The private flight industry is growing rapidly, and the climate impacts are massive. A new report released by the Institute for Policy Studies sheds more light on these impacts.
High Flyers 2023: How Ultra-Rich Private Jet Travel Costs The Rest of Us and Burns Up The Planet. Institute for Policy Studies, 2023
EPA Proposes Endangerment Finding for Lead Emissions from Aircraft Engines that Operate on Leaded Fuel. The EPA is seeking to conduct research on the effect of lead emissions from aircraft engines still operating on leaded fuel. As the last major method of transportation operating on leaded fuel, “aircraft that operate on leaded fuel are the largest remaining source of lead emissions into the air”
According to the EPA, “At the national level, major sources of lead in the air are ore and metals processing and piston-engine aircraft operating on leaded aviation fuel”. Limiting the frequency of small plane flights, especially over residential and highly trafficked area’s would decrease the general population’s exposure to lead.
Basic Information about Lead Air Pollution, EPA, 2023
The EPA announces findings that indicate leaded fuels used to power small plane engines are responsible for adverse human health effects, particularly in children. The EPA is now looking into phasing out the use of leaded aviation fuel permanently.
Lead pollution from small planes threatens human health, Washington Post, 2023
A new study by the Institute for Policy Studies shows that a proposed expansion of Hanscom Field in Massachusetts would almost exclusively benefit private jet owners who are already responsible for carbon emissions well above the Massachusetts average.
Hanscom High Flyers: Private Jet Excess Doesn’t Justify Airport Expansion, Institute for Policy Studies, 2023