Home

BanPrivateJets.org is an initiative aiming at discussing realistic policies to massively reduce flying.

Aviation is the source of an important chunk of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in high-income countries. To mitigate climate change it is thus of paramount importance to massively limit the hours of fossil-fueled flying.

BanPrivateJets.org wants to stress that, to achieve this, it is necessary to develop and implement socially acceptable policy measures. Linear taxation, the go-to approach, is either ineffective, if low, or makes flying prohibitively expensive for a large share of people who presently can afford it. Beyond the ethical implications of restricting flying to an even smaller set of wealthy people, such a policy is not likely to pass in any democratic context.

Banning private jets, the namesake of this initiative, is just one example of such measures. It achieves important reductions hitting a very small set of people without making flying more difficult for those who only infrequently do so. As such it should be socially acceptable. Moreover, it communicates the urgency of tackling climate change.

#BanPrivateJets because it hits first those who pollute most
#BanPrivateJets because it doesn’t hit people who fly rarely
#BanPrivateJets because there is no reason to allow them
#BanPrivateJets because something has to be done right now

Other avenues for action to be explored are:

  • Making flying less comfortable for those flyers with low price elasticity
  • Reducing military flying

This website is under construction. Follow BanPrivateJets.org on Twitter to stay tuned.

The Latest

Less flying in the Swiss Climate Action Plan

The Swiss Climate Strike just presented their Climate Action Plan. It includes 138 measures to effectively tackle climate change. With them, it presents pathways for Switzerland to move towards zero net carbon emissions by 2030. It includes bold measures to curtail aviation in a socially acceptable way. Notably, they advocate for a frequent flyer levy. …

Estimating the three tax breaks for Swiss airfare

In Switzerland, tickets for international aviation enjoy fiscal exemptions from three different taxes that could otherwise apply to them. Without these indirect subsidies, tickets would be at least 10% more expensive. Domestic flights in this small country are rare and short. Additionally, some exemptions extend to domestic aviation too. As a consequence, most aviation in …

The deeper issue

Why do we ignore the imminent climate catastrophes?

Climate change deniers, advocates of moderate responses to the climate crisis, people minding their own business, optimists: most people are not facing the urgent threat presented by climate catastrophes, in spite of scientific proof. Maybe because no leader is acting like humanity is facing an emergency? The Australia fires of the last months could be the ultimate wake up call for immediate action. The unprecedented intensity and length of this fire season are the consequence of climate change. Scientist predicted ...