Authors: Priti Parikh, Carole Roberts, Simon Chin-Yee, Richard Taylor, Mark Maslin

  • The problem: Use of private jets for travel to COP28 and lack of awareness on travel impacts
  • Why it matters: Transportation accounts for 15% of GHG emissions
  • The solution: Do not use private jets and use carbon footprinting tools to assess travel options to support carbon offsetting

The annual Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings are pivotal events for collective action to combat climate change. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change consists of 198 parties who participate in the COPs. Each COP event generates a huge carbon footprint, especially with the increase in the use of private jets for travel. At COP27, around 315 private jet journeys took place, with 17% of those being short-haul travel between Cairo and Sharm-El-Sheikh.

"The use of private jets by high-level delegates is the least fuel-efficient and most carbon-intensive mode of transport."

To address this, an interdisciplinary team of experts at UCL joined forces to estimate the carbon footprint for travel to COP28. The team then compared the carbon footprint of the last three COP events to enable the UNFCCC to make informed choices on where to locate COP and for participating organisations to understand the implications of using private jets versus commercial airlines and other modes of travel.

Carbon footprint of transport modes

Transportation has a significant carbon footprint, accounting for approximately 15% of total GHG emissions. Aviation is one of the most carbon-intensive forms of travel and a ‘hard-to-decarbonise’ sector. It’s a particularly polluting form of transport due to its direct effects from the emission of CO2 and nitrogen oxides (NOx) and indirect effects through the creation of vapour trails and high-altitude cloud formation.

The team explored a range of travel options for the upcoming COP28 in Dubai for participants from the United Kingdom. They found that the use of private jets by high-level delegates is the least fuel-efficient and most carbon-intensive mode of transport. Private jets are a striking example of carbon inequality. Despite the unparalleled environmental impacts, the carbon footprint of private jets remains largely underreported and under-regulated.

Private jet travel

Private jet travel is the most polluting mode of transport, consuming large amounts of fuel and carrying few passengers. The UCL team started by looking at the use of private jets for COP27. Most private flights to COP27 were short-haul. Over shorter distances, planes are less efficient due to the higher fuel consumption of take-off and landing phases compared to cruising. The most common flight was a domestic short-haul journey between Cairo and Sharm El-Sheikh (382 km), accounting for 17% of all flights during the time period.

The team then looked at the implications of private jet travel for COP28. For a journey from London to Dubai, private jet travel is 9 times more polluting than a commercial aircraft, 35 times more than train transport and 52 times more than coach travel (Figure 1).

"Most private flights to COP27 were short-haul."

The carbon footprint of the few contributes disproportionately to climate change, whose impacts are often greatest for the most vulnerable and lowest carbon emitters. The carbon footprint of a single person flying by private jet from London to COP28 is equivalent to 11 passengers on a commercial direct flight.

Given the overarching goal of COP conferences to discuss and negotiate climate change policies and actions, the use of private jets by high-profile individuals clearly undermines this goal. This symbolises a disconnect between environmental concerns and individual actions and a lack of commitment to sustainable practices. This has the risk of shaping and influencing public opinion, where members of the public would take climate concerns less seriously if they feel that their leaders are not adopting best practices.

Figure 1: A graph of the carbon intensity per mile of various transport modes

Figure 1: Carbon intensity (gCO2e) of different modes of transport to COP28. Flight emissions are based on journeys from London to Dubai. Car, train and coach emissions are based on journeys from London to Istanbul. Private jet emissions are based on a Cessna 680 Citation Sovereign (most common in COP27 data), commercial flight emissions are based on an Airbus A380-300 and car journeys are calculated for a Vauxhall Corsa.

Location of COP

In addition to travel-related carbon footprint (see toolkit), the team considered the implication of the location of COPs as a means of managing carbon emissions. Promoting equity is an important aspect of hosting COP in different regions of the world.

The location of Dubai, with conflict zones blocking land routes from Europe, Asia and Africa, makes flying at least part of the journey from most regions necessary. In comparison to COP26 and COP27, the carbon footprint of travelling to COP28 from London is unsurprisingly higher, largely due to the additional emissions released from the longer flight as compared to the train journey. The location of COP28 fares slightly but not hugely better than COP27, which had even more limited routes and options due to conflicts, nonexistent ferries and limited flights.

This indicates the need to very carefully consider the carbon footprint implications of participants travelling to COP and identifying locations with multiple viable travel modes. While most participants are highly motivated to travel sustainably, their actions will depend on the length of travel. The longer the travel required, the less likely participants will use low emissions travel options.

Ultimately, policymakers will need to work with the UNFCCC to identify host locations which are more accessible. By looking at their own actions and travel routes, attendees can also act as role models. But in all scenarios, private jet travel is not advisable as the carbon footprint is substantially higher than other travel modes. It exacerbates existing inequities at climate negotiations and sends the wrong message to the world.

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(Image Credit: Unsplash)