As the world literally burns and floods, it is important to remember that individualism will not really solve the problem. climate crisis, especially compared to, say, the complete dismantling of the brutal control the fossil fuel industry has over modern society. Still, there are some people who could probably do a little more to mitigate their carbon footprint, including the super-rich who make frequent use of carbon-spewing private jets. (And let’s not even start yachts.)
While private jets are used by wealthy people of all stripes, their use among celebrities has recently come under scrutiny, with reports from the likes of Drake and Kylie Jenner taking flights lasting less than 20 minutes. In response, the sustainability marketing company Yard has put together a new report using data to rank the celebrities whose private jets have flown the most so far this year and subsequently dumped the most carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Drake and Jenner appear on the list, but they’re actually nowhere near the top, which is occupied by none other than Taylor Swift. According to Yard, Swift’s plane flew 170 times between January 1 and July 19 (the Yard study window), totaling 22,923 minutes, or 15.9 days, in the air. That output has created total estimated flight emissions of 8,293.54 tons of carbon, which the Yard says is 1,184.8 times more than the average person’s total annual emissions. (You can also add at least one more flight to that list: The flight-tracking Twitter account Celebrity Jets notes that Swift’s plane flew today, July 29.)
To create this report, Yard pulled data from famous planeswhich in turn extracts its information from ADS-B exchange (“the world’s largest public source of unfiltered flight data,” according to its website). Yard based his carbon emissions estimates on a UK Department for Transport estimate that a plane traveling at about 850 km/hour emits 134 kg of CO2 per hour; that 134kg estimate was multiplied by both time spent in the air and a factor of 2.7 to account for “radiative forcing”, which includes other harmful emissions such as nitrous oxide (2.7 was taken from the book by Mark Lynas carbon counter). That number was then divided by 1,000 to convert to tons.
Following Swift’s plane on the Yard’s list was a plane belonging to boxer Floyd Mayweather, which emitted an estimated 7,076.8 tons of CO2 over 177 flights so far this year (one of those flights lasted just 10 minutes). At number three on the list was Jay-Z, though his placement comes with a caveat: the data extracted for Jay is tied to the Puma Jeta Gulfstream GV that Jay, the creative director of Puma, allegedly convinced the sneaker giant to buy as a benefit to the athletes it supports.
While Jay-Z is you are not the only person who flies About the Puma Jet, a Yard representative said, “We credited the jet to Jay-Z this time around because he requested the Puma jet as part of his registration deal to become the creative director of Puma basketball. The Puma jet’s tail numbers are N444SC at Jay-Z’s request. N, the standard US private aircraft registration code, 444, in reference to his album of the same name and SC for his birth name, Shawn Carter. Without Jay-Z, this jet would cease to exist.”
The rest of the celebrities in Yard’s top 10 appear to own the planes that provided the flight data for the report. However, to that end, it is impossible to say whether the specific owners are the ones traveling on these planes for each specific flight. For example, Swift actually has two planes that CelebJets tracks, and obviously she can’t use both at the same time.
So, beyond the Jay-Z/Puma Jet, next on Yard’s list is former baseball star Alex Rodriguez’s plane, which has racked up 106 flights and emitted 5,342.7 tons of CO2. And rounding out the top five is a jet belonging to country star Blake Shelton, which has so far flown 111 flights and emitted 4,495 tons of CO2. The rest of the Top 10 includes planes from director Steven Spielberg (61 flights, 4,465 tons), Kim Kardashian (57 flights, 4,268.5 tons), Mark Wahlberg (101 flights, 3,772.85 tons), Oprah Winfrey (68 flights, 3,493 .17 tons) and Travis Scott (54 flights, 3033.3 tons).
The representatives of all the celebrities in the top 10 of the Yard list did not return immediately. Rolling Stonecomment request.
As for the two celebrities who helped inspire the Yard study: Kylie Jenner’s plane landed at No. 19 (64 flights, 1,682.7 tons), sandwiched between Jim Carey and Tom Cruise. And Drake’s plane appeared at number 16 (37 flights, 1,844.09 tons), between golfer Jack Nicklaus and Kenny Chesney. While Jenner still has to board her 17-minute flight, Drake answered to some criticism on Instagram by pointing out that no one was even on the seven-minute, 12-minute and 14-minute flights his Boeing 767 took over a span of six weeks. The explanation, in all honesty, doesn’t do you any favors.
“This is just them moving planes to whatever airport they’re stored at for anyone who’s interested in logistics… no one takes that flight,” Drake said. (A representative for Drake did not immediately return. Rolling Stonerequest for more comments).