They pressure the rich and famous to leave their private jets to save the environment

from american singer Taylor Swift Even French Businessmen Bernard ArnaultThe Pressure mounts on celebrities, political figures and big businessmen Why Limit your travel on private jetsResponsible for a significant carbon footprint.

After posting a photo of her plane and her partner on Instagram in mid-July, the star of reality shows, kylie jenner was rated as “Climate Offender” by netizens.

“polluters and criminals”Another tweeted about the director Steven Spielbergaccused of take the 28 minute flight,

Countless humorous memes, photos and videos mocked Swift after an analysis by the marketing agency was published on Friday. Yardwhat She was classified as the “Most Polluting Celebrity of the Year”Who? 170 flights since the beginning of the year.

Top 10 polluting celebrities completed Floyd Mayweather, Jay-Z, Alex Rodriguez, Blake Shelton, Spielberg, Kim Kardashian, Mark Wahlberg, Oprah Winfrey and Travis Scott,

The yard relied on data from the “Celebrity Jets” Twitter account, which tracks celebrity flights through public online data.

This account was launched by 19-year-old student Jack Sweeney. It started in June 2020 Elon Musk’s private jet And now he has 30 accounts tracking sports stars, meta bosses, Mark ZuckerbergAnd even the Russian oligarch.

He inspired other Internet users such as Sebastian—a pseudonym to retain his identity—a 35-year-old aeronautical engineer who created the “I Fly Bernard” account in April to pressure him about the routes of the French billionaire’s planes. put pressure on them. Their carbon footprint…

“What I’m trying to condemn is the use of private planes as taxis,” he explains. AFPPointing to multiple national or European flights.

“In Europe, three quarters of these flights can be done by train”Condemns William Todts, executive director of Transport and the Environment, which brings together European NGOs in the region.

The airline sector is responsible for between 2% and 3% of global CO2 emissions, but according to a report by Transport & Environment, published in May, flights cost between five and 14 times more than commercial flights and between 50 times more per passenger. cause carbon footprint. higher than the train.

On the other hand, Private aviation booming since the pandemicBecause their customers want to avoid the suppression and narrowing of flights in the face of Covid-19.

Some stars reacted to the pressure on the social network. in the last week, A Swift spokeswoman told reporters she “regularly lends her jets to other people.”,

“It is completely wrong to attribute most or all of these flights to them,” he details.

rapper FlyFlagged for a 14-minute flight between Toronto and Hamilton, the plane responded on Instagram to be parked somewhere else, with “no one aboard,” he claimed.

“Worse if it flies empty,” says Beatrice Jarige, project manager for the Shift Project Association. think tank French Joe a. advocates change in “Post-Carbon Economy”,

In France, a spokesman for the industrial conglomerate Bouygues assured that the aircraft “I Fly Bernard”, posing as its CEO, Martin Bouygues, belongs to the group and is “used by various partners”.

It also indicates that the aircraft’s CO2 emissions are offset by projects of Deforestation, a solution criticized because it does not reduce emissions sufficiently,

Other French billionaires such as Bernard Arnault, Jean Charles Decoux and Vincent Bollore, also affected by the Twitter account, did not wish to comment.

Jarige hopes that this social media movement will turn into a political action.

“It’s not about banning flights completely, but it’s essential that the richest people try to be cool”He specifies, advocates investment in railways.

For Todd, jet owners should, at a minimum, need to run on biofuels instead of kerosene, as this would encourage aircraft manufacturers to develop these technologies.

In September 2021, the business aviation sector considered these sustainable fuels to be “keys” to achieving the carbon neutrality target set for 2050.

With information from the AFP agency