Private jet: how to track the rich polluters?

The situation is serious, we all know it and without a collective effort, we will not be able to save our planet. Suffice to say that … But we are not here to brood Monday morning. No, we’re here to talk about those who have really decided not to make any effort and who travel by private jet around the planet as naturally as you do when you take the bus to go 3 kilometers. Unfortunately for them, the discretion of their little escapades is no longer really assured and they are very annoyed.

Drunk the radars

There are indeed many legal means to follow today the comings and goings of the planes which fly over our heads all day long. It is enough to have the right information, the right equipment and knowing where to look. US law, for example, requires aircraft in certain areas to be equipped with the ADS-B satellite system. The latter sends the position of the aircraft by radio to air traffic controllers at regular intervals. The Flightradar24 site thus has more than 34,000 receivers on the ground on the entire planet. What to capture a lot of information about the place of departure, the place of arrival and how long the flight lasted. Some people have therefore made it their specialty and share flight data of those who use their private jets a little too often.

This is the case, for example, of Celebrity Jets created Jack Sweeney on Tweeter. In addition to this, this 19-year-old American has automated 30 other pages following the journeys of celebrities. The one known asElonJet follows for example the adventures of Elon Musk and his private plane. She is followed by nearly 500,000 people and hits the South African’s system a bit, who even offered to buy the student out for $5,000. Which must represent the money earned in half a second by the boss of Tesla.

296 mile (257 NM) flight from AUS to BRO

~ 350 gallons (1,326 liters).
~ 2,348 lbs (1,065 kg) of jet fuel used.
~ $2,344 cost of fuel.
~ 4 tons of CO2 emissions.

— ElonJet (@ElonJet) August 5, 2022

The page I fly Bernard also points to the movements of French billionaires by private jet, the name referring to Bernard Arnault. another account, laviondebernardplacards the boss of LVMH by following his jet and that of the Total company. But otherwise, is it really that bad that rich people use private planes when they can afford it? So how to say…

“Pollution, I say no! ” (the unknown)

On the I fly Bernard page, you will find information that may make you angry like never before. It is true that we are asked – sometimes with good reason – to pay attention to our behavior regarding energy expenditure. It’s even better when the effort comes from ourselves since we are all concerned with ecology. And then you come across this kind of post on Tweeter and you start to wonder what impact what you are doing on your side really has against Martin Bouygues:

In the end, with 3 flights in 3 days, the journey of Martin Bouygues’ plane will have emitted 70 tons of CO2 🔥💀🔥
This is the equivalent of the emissions of an average Frenchman in 7 years. pic.twitter.com/5F1Ag1EGEW

— I Fly Bernard (@i_fly_Bernard) July 19, 2022

Consumption of three flight days = 7 years on average of a French person’s carbon footprint. What to do about it if not feel helpless in the face of the unconsciousness of certain powerful ? Above all, do not forget to turn off your WiFi ! A few days ago, the marketing agency Yard voted Taylor Swift “the most polluting celebrity of the year”, with 170 thefts since January. We don’t even dare to calculate the carbon footprint of the singer.

Faced with this drift, some, like Bill Gates, aware of the problem but unable to deprive themselves of their jet, use carbon offsetting to try to offset their own CO emissions₂ by financing projects intended to reduce them. Yes, it’s better than nothing but, as the saying goes ” The best waste is that which is not produced. “.

And privacy in all this?

So of course, even billionaires, these people have the right to respect for their privacy. It is reasoning that stands up. It should be noted, however, that these private jets mostly belong to the companies of these wealthy polluters. They may therefore very well not be inside their metal bird. We can imagine that they lend their expensive cuckoo clocks or that they charter it to pick up a guest. This does not reduce their carbon footprint, however. Remember also that all this data is public and that the sites we have told you about only centralize the information to allow everyone to have easy access to it.

I feel like I’m in the minority here but I give them reason, they have a right to privacy too. If the objective of accounts that track journeys is to denounce how many km they travel by plane, it suffices to say how many km they travel by plane, not to say where they go. https://t.co/wGFBHKg1Jh

— Guillaume Champeau (@gchampeau) August 7, 2022