Greenpeace is calling for a Europe-wide ban on the use of private planes as ‘luxury emissions’ have shot up since the pandemic.

In the first nine months of this year CO2 emissions from private jets reached levels comparable with the whole of 2019, research by thinktank CE Delft commissioned by Greenpeace found.

An investigation by website Follow the Money corroborating the data found that private flights to popular holiday resorts have quickly increased in popularity since corona, with many people using the service for the first time. Private plane hire companies said their clients want to avoid crowded passenger jets and the chaotic situation at Schiphol.

Some 16,147 private flights took off from Amsterdam and Rotterdam airports in the first nine months of 2022, compared to 14,672 in the whole of 2019.

Greenpeace campaign leader Maarten de Zeeuw called the findings ‘shocking’.

‘Although emissions from private flights from the two airports  are a relatively small part of the whole of the emissions produced by Schiphol the amount of CO2 produced by these planes still equals that of 40,000 cars for a year. These are “luxury emissions” produced by rich people,’ he told FTM.

Short-haul trips

Most of the flights are short-haul, the investigations show, to places which are accessible by other forms of transport.

Apart from banning private planes altogether, Greenpeace would like more people to take the train or fly economy. On the two most popular routes, to London and Paris, a change to commercial airlines would result in a CO2 reduction of 80%, while travelling by train would reduce emissions to almost zero, Greenpeace claimed.

A ban would help the Netherlands reach the EU’s goal of 55% fewer greenhouse gases by 2030 and climate neutrality in 2050. Commercial aviation will have to halve its emissions by 2050 and be completely neutral by 2070.

Private planes do not figure in the government’s objectives, although CO2 emissions per private passenger per kilometre are much higher than for a passenger travelling on a commercial flight, Greenpeace said.