This increasingly frequent use of this luxury transport is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of nearly 40,000 cars per year, points out the NGO.
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In the Netherlands, too, this question is causing debate. Greenpeace denounced, Thursday, October 20, the climate impact of the sharp increase in the number of private jet flights from Dutch airports, pleading for their ban. In the first nine months of 2022, 16,147 private flights were made to and from Schiphol and Rotterdam airports, more than in the whole of 2019, before the pandemic, the environmental NGO showed in a study.
This increasingly frequent use of luxury transport is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of nearly 40,000 cars per year. “We are shocked that in times of climate crisis, a certain group has started flying not less, but more in private jets which are the most polluting”said Dewi Zloch, climate and energy expert at Greenpeace Netherlands.
The study, conducted for Greenpeace by Dutch environmental think tank CE Delft, also showed that one in three private flights departing from Schiphol or The Hague-Rotterdam airport were used for journeys of less than 500 kilometers . “Popular destinations include Paris and even Antwerp, cities easily accessible by train”, Greenpeace added in a statement. “The most popular flights are to destinations like Mallorca, Ibiza and Cannes.”
Greenpeace pointed out that private flights are not included in the climate targets set by the Dutch government and are not included in the maximum of 440,000 flights per year set for 2023 at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.
In addition, the study points to the space occupied by business class in planes. If it were replaced by regular seats, many more passengers could fit in the aircraft.