LONDON: Political and business leaders will meet at the Swiss resort of Davos next week for the World Economic Forum, where issues from geopolitical instability to climate change are on the agenda.
Yet as they seek consensus and solutions for global challenges, environmental campaigners argue that their travel arrangements may prove more significant — as hundreds of attendees are set to arrive by high-polluting private jets.
During last year’s week-long event, 1,040 private planes flew in and out of airports serving the resort of Davos, found a new report commissioned by campaign group Greenpeace.
Those flights caused four times more planet-heating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions than during an average week — equivalent to the emissions of 350,000 cars, the report found.
“For a forum where people actually claim to solve climate issues ... it seems quite hypocritical,” said Klara Maria Schenk, transport campaigner at Greenpeace Europe.
But it’s not just Davos. Private jet use by the super-rich and political leaders is increasingly fueling public outrage.
Pop star Taylor Swift has faced criticism for her jetsetting habits, while British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently came under fire for taking a 36-minute domestic flight in England.
So what is the impact of private jets on the environment, and what do experts think could be done in response?
How polluting are private jets?
A private jet can emit two tons of carbon dioxide in an hour — which is equivalent to a few months of an average person’s greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union, according to the European NGO Transport & Environment (T&E).
Private planes are between five and 14 times more polluting than commercial jets per passenger, and 50 times more than high-speed rail, according to T&E data.
“If you break it down by passenger and kilometer, it is actually the most polluting way to travel in existence,” Schenk of Greenpeace said in an interview.
At Davos last year, more than half of the flights traveled less than 750km, and the shortest flight recorded was only 21km, the Greenpeace research found.
“Many of these flights would be replaceable by a few hours of train ride,” Schenk added.
What does that mean for climate change?
The aviation sector accounts for about 2.8 percent of global CO2 emissions. While that proportion seems relatively minor, experts point to the outsized impact caused by a small number of people.
Just 1 percent of the global population is responsible for 50 percent of the CO2 emitted by commercial aviation, according to a 2020 study in the Global Environmental Change journal.
“Frequent flyers and private jet users are by far the worst offenders when it comes to aviation emissions,” said Denise Auclair, corporate travel campaign manager at T&E.
Private jets are “emblematic” of the climate crisis as “people who are not flying, not contributing to the problem are suffering the effects,” like droughts and wildfires, she said.
How popular are private jets?
Despite concerns over their climate impact, private planes have become more and more popular in recent years.
While celebrities from US media personality Kylie Jenner to Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk have made the headlines, with their private flights tracked and published on social media, the trend is also becoming more common in wider business travel.
Private jet travel “started booming” during the COVID-19 pandemic, when most commercial flights were grounded, said Schenk from Greenpeace.
“While we were sitting at home, these people flew in their private jets,” she said.
In the United States, private business jets now account for a quarter of all flights, approximately twice their pre-pandemic share, according to aviation consultancy WINGX.
Can air travel become sustainable?
The airline industry has said sustainable aviation fuels can help it reach net zero by 2050. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says these fuels can reduce emissions by up to 80 percent during their lifecycle compared to conventional fuel.
Meanwhile, airlines such as Air Canada and US carrier United Airlines have been buying electric planes earmarked for short trips.
Yet environmental groups say that an increase in sustainable fuels could lead to deforestation as vast amounts of lands are cleared to grow bioenergy crops such as palm and soy oils.
There are also concerns about how long it would take for these cleaner fuels to be used at scale — which made up less than 0.1 percent of aviation fuels in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency.
“We have to admit to ourselves ... sustainable fuels are not going to get us on the decarbonization path that we need to be on today,” said Auclair of T&E.
She said a combination of measures will be needed to accelerate emissions reductions over the next decade, including a rethink of what kind of flights are really necessary.
What are governments doing about it?
Governments in Europe have started to explore steps to reduce private jet flights, and encourage passengers to take cleaner forms of transport.
In December, France won approval from the European Commission to ban short-haul flight routes of less than two-and-a-half hours for which there are direct rail options.
Belgium, meanwhile, will impose new taxes on private jets and short-haul flights from April.
Auclair said taxes could provide an incentive to reduce air travel while funding the acceleration of sustainable aviation developments.
She also said corporate leaders need to set targets and create clear travel policies as part of their climate plans.
“If you’re saying as a leader that your organization is taking steps to address climate change, then it just doesn’t really make sense for you to be taking a private jet to Davos,” Auclair said. “We need to get serious.”
EXPLAINER: As leaders fly to Davos, how do private jets affect the climate?
https://arab.news/64xdm
EXPLAINER: As leaders fly to Davos, how do private jets affect the climate?
- During last year’s week-long event, 1,040 private planes flew in and out of airports serving the resort of Davos
UK Supreme Court to rule on landmark legal challenge over legal definition of a woman
- Britain’s highest court scheduled to rule whether a transgender person with a certificate that recognizes them as female can be regarded as a woman under equality laws
LONDON: The UK Supreme Court is poised to rule Wednesday in a legal challenge focusing on the definition of a woman in a long-running dispute between a women’s rights group and the Scottish government.
Five judges at Britain’s highest court are scheduled to rule whether a transgender person with a certificate that recognizes them as female can be regarded as a woman under equality laws.
While the case centers on Scottish law, the group bringing the challenge, For Women Scotland (FWS), has said its outcomes could have UK-wide consequences for sex-based rights as well as everyday single-sex services such as toilets and hospital wards.
What’s the case about?
The case stems from a 2018 law passed by the Scottish Parliament stating that there should be a 50 percent female representation on the boards of Scottish public bodies. That law included transgender women in its definition of women.
The women’s rights group successfully challenged that law, arguing that its redefinition of “woman” went beyond parliament’s powers.
Scottish officials then issued guidance stating that the definition of “woman” included a transgender woman with a gender recognition certificate.
FWS sought to overturn that.
“Not tying the definition of sex to its ordinary meaning means that public boards could conceivably comprise of 50 percent men, and 50 percent men with certificates, yet still lawfully meet the targets for female representation,” the group’s director Trina Budge said.
The challenge was rejected by a court in 2022, but the group was granted permission last year to take its case to the Supreme Court.
What are the arguments?
Aidan O’Neill, a lawyer for FWS, told the Supreme Court judges – three men and two women – that under the Equality Act “sex” should refer to biological sex and as understood “in ordinary, everyday language.”
“Our position is your sex, whether you are a man or a woman or a girl or a boy is determined from conception in utero, even before one’s birth, by one’s body,” he said on Tuesday. “It is an expression of one’s bodily reality. It is an immutable biological state.”
The women’s rights group counts among its supporters author J.K. Rowling, who reportedly donated tens of thousands of pounds to back its work. The “Harry Potter” writer has been vocal in arguing that the rights for trans women should not come at the expense of those who are born biologically female.
Opponents, including Amnesty International, said excluding transgender people from sex discrimination protections conflicts with human rights.
Amnesty submitted a brief in court saying it was concerned about the deterioration of the rights for trans people in the UK and abroad.
“A blanket policy of barring trans women from single-sex services is not a proportionate means to achieve a legitimate aim,” the human rights group said.
Canadian university teachers warned against traveling to the United States
- The Canadian government recently updated its US travel advisory, warning residents they may face scrutiny from border guards and the possibility of detention if denied entry
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia: The association that represents academic staff at Canadian universities is warning its members against non-essential travel to the United States.
The Canadian Association of University Teachers released updated travel advice Tuesday due to the “political landscape” created by President Donald Trump’s administration and reports of some Canadians encountering difficulties crossing the border.
The association says academics who are from countries that have tense diplomatic relations with the United States, or who have themselves expressed negative views about the Trump administration, should be particularly cautious about US travel.
Its warning is particularly targeted to academics who identify as transgender or “whose research could be seen as being at odds with the position of the current US administration.”
In addition, the association says academics should carefully consider what information they have, or need to have, on their electronic devices when crossing the border, and take actions to protect sensitive information.
Reports of foreigners being sent to detention or processing centers for more than seven days, including Canadian Jasmine Mooney, a pair of German tourists, and a backpacker from Wales, have been making headlines since Trump took office in January.
The Canadian government recently updated its US travel advisory, warning residents they may face scrutiny from border guards and the possibility of detention if denied entry.
Crossings from Canada into the United States dropped by about 32 percent, or by 864,000 travelers, in March compared to the same month a year ago, according to data from US Customs and Border Protection. Many Canadians are furious about Trump’s annexation threats and trade war but also worried about entering the US
David Robinson, executive director of the university teachers association, said that the warning is the first time his group has advised against non-essential US travel in the 11 years he’s worked with them.
“It’s clear there’s been heightened scrutiny of people entering the United States, and … a heightened kind of political screening of people entering the country,” said Robinson, whose association represents 70,000 teachers, librarians, researchers, general staff and other academic professionals at 122 universities and colleges.
Robinson said the group made the decision after taking legal advice in recent weeks. He said lawyers told them that US border searches can compromise confidential information obtained by academics during their research.
He said the association will keep the warning in place until it sees “the end of political screening, and there is more respect for confidential information on electronic devices.”
Afghan children will die because of US funding cuts, aid official says
- More than 3.5 million children in Afghanistan will suffer from acute malnutrition this year, an increase of 20 percent from 2024
Afghan children will die because of US funding cuts, an aid agency official said Tuesday.
The warning follows the cancelation of foreign aid contracts by President Donald Trump’s administration, including to Afghanistan where more than half of the population needs humanitarian assistance to survive.
Action Against Hunger initially stopped all US-funded activities in March after the money dried up suddenly. But it kept the most critical services going in northeastern Badakhshan province and the capital Kabul through its own budget, a measure that stopped this month.
Its therapeutic feeding unit in Kabul is empty and closing this week. There are no patients, and staff contracts are ending because of the US funding cuts.
“If we don’t treat children with acute malnutrition there is a very high risk of (them) dying,” Action Against Hunger’s country director, Cobi Rietveld, told The Associated Press. “No child should die because of malnutrition. If we don’t fight hunger, people will die of hunger. If they don’t get medical care, there is a high risk of dying. They don’t get medical care, they die.”
More than 3.5 million children in Afghanistan will suffer from acute malnutrition this year, an increase of 20 percent from 2024. Decades of conflict — including the 20-year US war with the Taliban — as well as entrenched poverty and climate shocks have contributed to the country’s humanitarian crisis.
Last year, the United States provided 43 percent of all international humanitarian funding to Afghanistan.
Rietveld said there were other nongovernmental organizations dealing with funding cuts to Afghanistan. “So when we cut the funding, there will be more children who are going to die of malnutrition.”
The children who came to the feeding unit often could not walk or even crawl. Sometimes they were unable to eat because they didn’t have the energy. All the services were provided free of charge, including three meals a day.
Rietveld said children would need to be referred to other places, where there was less capacity and technical knowledge.
Dr. Abdul Hamid Salehi said Afghan mothers were facing a crisis. Poverty levels among families meant it was impossible to treat severely malnourished children in private clinics.
“People used to come to us in large numbers, and they are still hoping and waiting for this funding to be found again or for someone to sponsor us so that we can resume our work and start serving patients once more.”
Magnitude 5.6 earthquake strikes Hindu Kush region, Afghanistan, EMSC says
- EMSC first reported the quake at a magnitude of 6.4
KABUL: An earthquake of magnitude 5.6 struck the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) said.
The quake was at a depth of 121 km (75 miles), EMSC said, and the epicenter 164 km east of Baghlan, a city with a population of about 108,000.
EMSC first reported the quake at a magnitude of 6.4.
US plans to use tariff negotiations to isolate China, WSJ reports
- US officials plan to use negotiations with more than 70 nations to ask them to disallow China to ship goods through their countries and prevent Chinese firms from being located in their territories to avoid US tariffs
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump administration plans to use ongoing tariff negotiations to pressure US trading partners to limit their dealings with China, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday citing people with knowledge of the conversations.
US officials plan to use negotiations with more than 70 nations to ask them to disallow China to ship goods through their countries and prevent Chinese firms from being located in their territories to avoid US tariffs, the report added.
