Climate Change: Significant Increase in Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Private Aviation

Annual emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from private aviation increased by 46% between 2019 and 2023, according to an analysis published in Communications Earth & Environment. The results also show that some individuals who regularly use private aviation may produce almost 500 times more CO₂ in a year than the average individual, and that there were significant emissions peaks around certain international events, including COP 28 and the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Private aviation is highly energy-intensive, emitting significantly more CO₂ per passenger than commercial flights, but is used by approximately 0.003% of the world’s population. However, the true scale of global private aviation, and the emissions it produces, is currently poorly understood.

Stefan Gössling and colleagues analysed the flight tracker data of 18,655,789 private flights flown by 25,993 registered business jet-type private aircraft between 2019 and 2023, which represent the vast majority of private aviation. They then calculated the CO₂ emissions of each flight by combining the advertised fuel consumption rate of the aircraft’s model with flight duration and trajectory. The authors found that these flights cumulatively produced approximately 15.6 million tonnes of CO₂ in direct emissions in 2023 — an average of approximately 3.6 tonnes of CO₂ emissions per flight. This was a 46.0% increase in emissions from private aviation compared to 2019, and equivalent to approximately 1.8% of the total emissions produced by commercial aviation in 2023.

The authors note that major international events are associated with a particularly large volume of private flights. COP 28, for example, was associated with 644 private flights which produced 4,800 tonnes of CO₂, whilst the 2022 FIFA World Cup was associated with 1,846 private flights which produced 14,700 tonnes of CO₂. The authors also note that the highest emitting individuals produced 2,400 tonnes of CO₂ each in 2023, based on the flight data of their planes’ unique tail numbers. This is almost 500 times more than the average amount of emissions produced per person in 2020 (4.5 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent).

Together, these findings underscore the significant role of private aviation in emissions and climate change.