PARIS — As France reels from extreme summer temperatures and soaring energy prices, and calls to curb global warming pollutants become increasingly urgent, one high-handed culprit has his sights set. Matching: private jet.
Recently, France’s transport minister called for restrictions on flights by such planes, citing their significant contribution to climate change. Said to submit.
The announcement struck a chord in France, where weeks of severe drought and wildfires brought home the reality of global warming and sparked a larger debate about consumers’ responsibility to address climate change.
“Without resorting to demagogy or launching adhominems, There are certain actions that are no longer acceptable if attacked,” said Transport Minister Clément Beaune. Le Parisien Saturday’s newspaper announced plans to regulate private jets.
Mr Beaune’s advisers said Mr Beaune is considering several options Emission trading program — which limits the amount of carbon dioxide a company can emit to jet aircraft. Beaune said he would discuss the matter with Block’s partners.
The aviation sector is already considered one of the world’s top sources of carbon dioxide emissions. Private His jets are estimated to cause 5 to 14 times more pollution per passenger than commercial airlines and 50 times more than trains. According to research was published last year by Transport & Environment, a group that promotes cleaner transport.
The study found that France, with its capital in the north and the ultra-rich Mediterranean Riviera in the south, has the second-highest level of private jet emissions in Europe, after the United Kingdom. I understand. According to the study, in 2019, one-tenth of all his outbound flights in the country used his private jet.
In recent months, some French social media accounts have begun tracking jet flights taken by several French billionaires, fueling public outcry against the use of planes.
On Twitter and Instagram, i fly bernard — a reference to Bernard Arnault, head of luxury giant LVMH and one of the richest men in the world — has published the billionaire’s travels and released estimates of their carbon footprint.
on friday i fly bernard wrote on twitter A private jet owned by the company of French media mogul Vincent Bolloré flew three times in the same day and released 22 tons of carbon dioxide while traveling between France and Greece. This is equivalent to 10 years of average automobile emissions. In France, it is based on figures from the organization Greenpeace.
“This simple little tool is very powerful because you suddenly realize that something is wrong,” says Julien Bayeux, member of the French National Assembly, lower house of parliament and leader of the Green Party. , mentioned social media trackers.
Bayeux said he plans to introduce a bill banning private jets in October, when Congress reopens after the summer holidays. He added that a ban on other energy-intensive private transportation, such as yachts, would also be considered.
France last year passed a climate law banning domestic flights within two-and-a-half hours by train, unless connecting to an international flight, but the ban exempted private jet travel.
Bayeux said his party has discussed a ban on private jets in the past, but the proposal has only gained momentum in recent weeks.
This year’s scorching summer has made the damage of climate change all too evident in France, with wildfires raging in the southeast and the most severe drought on record depleting water resources in dozens of municipalities.
Conflict erupted as authorities imposed water restrictions across most of mainland France, leaving many to question the privileges afforded to the wealthy.
outdoor jacuzzi vandalized, and farmers have challenged bans on irrigating their fields. In the south of France, climate activists have protested filling holes in golf courses with cement to exempt greens from water bans. “For the bourgeois elite”
Emmanuel Combet, an economist at the publicly funded French Environment and Energy Agency, said there was a growing debate in France about the role of the richest people in conservation efforts.
a Papers published last year A paper co-authored by Combe estimates that the richest 10% of French households emit, on average, more than twice as much carbon dioxide as the poorest 10%. When it comes to transport-related emissions, the disparity is even more pronounced, with the richest group emitting more than three times as much as the poorest group.
But he also pointed to the fact that some wealthy households emit less than poorer households, thanks to investments in cleaner energy, such as using electric heating instead of oil.
“The debate about equity in the transition should not be limited to the gap between rich and poor,” Combet said.
President Emmanuel Macron has been criticized in the past for environmental measures that appear to favor the big city elite at the expense of rural working-class people. Protests erupted across France after it announced a tax increase on petrol and diesel as part of a move towards cleaner energy, leading to the so-called yellow vest movement that shook the country.
Mr Beaune’s proposal has been challenged by some government officials, but Mr Beaune’s call for a crackdown on private jets means that the environmental efforts Mr Macron recently called for apply to everyone. It seems to indicate that
“Private jets have symbolic value,” government spokesman Olivier Veran told the radio station. France Intel on tuesday. “The French should not be under the impression that it is always the same people who are called upon to strive: the working class and the middle class.”