Judging by the big turnout at a recent community town hall, a lot of Cortes folks are concerned about the impact of the runway upgrade happening at the Lavender Farm. I’m writing to provide some information about one of those concerns – the extreme levels of climate pollution that this kind of airstrip enables. If you are concerned about the metastasizing climate crisis you might find this information of interest.

Luxury travel with an oversized impact

My chart at the top shows the climate impact from two typical aircraft that can land on this improved runway: Pilatus PC-12 turboprop and Pilatus PC-24 executive jet. As you can see on the chart, these aircraft can emit several tonnes of CO2 (tCO2) from a single flight. A round trip flight can exceed 10 tCO2. For comparison, more than 80% of the people on the planet emit less than that for an entire year.

We are barreling into a climate emergency. And our rapidly destabilizing climate is already forcing millions of the least-emitting people from their homes and driving major ecosystem into collapse. At this point in this crisis, if your climate damage gets measured in tonnes per hour, I’d say you’re on the wrong side of both history and basic ethics.

Luxury travel with a much smaller impact

Fortunately, far less harmful choices exist, even in the world of luxury travel.

As one example, I’ve included on my chart the emissions from a large, $100k+, luxury SUV: Tesla’s Model X. It’s fuel emissions for a comparable trip are too small to even see at this scale. Just 0.01 tCO2 for 3,000 kilometers when powered by BC electricity.

I chose the Model X for my chart because that is the car a wealthy Cortesian (who used to live next to the airstrip) chose for their several thousand kilometer trip each year to Cortes. The Model X comes packed with high-tech bells and whistle. It’s fast as Porsche, seats seven, tows 5,000 pounds and can drive itself. It certainly ticks the “extreme luxury” box in my view.

20 times 20 = 400

Why is a private aircraft like Pilatus PC-12 so much more climate polluting than a Model X SUV?

To start with, the plane demands 20 times more energy per kilometer. And the energy it demands, fossil aviation fuel, is 20 times more climate polluting per unit of energy compared to BC electricity.

When you choose something that requires twenty times more energy that is twenty times dirtier you are choosing to dump 400x more climate damage per kilometer.

The world’s hyper-emitters

The world’s top 1% of climate polluters emit more climate pollution than the least-emitting 50% of humanity. The majority of these hyper-emitters live here in North America. And their most extreme pollution imbalance is from transportation – especially from aviation emissions. These are the people who are most able to choose climate-sane alternatives, instead.

The hyper-emissions from hyper-luxury damage our climate well beyond the direct impact of the emissions themselves. That’s because they also indirectly act as a brake on climate progress by society at large. A large body of research shows that humans are great at acting cooperatively and altruistically – when others do too. But willingness to act for the greater good declines dramatically when people feel that others aren’t doing their fair share. Not everyone throws up their hands and says “why bother” when they see others hyper-emitting for their luxury fun … but enough people do pull back that it slows down climate progress.

At this point, the multi-billion-tonne question is whether the top 1% of emitters will voluntarily reign in their own excess pollution? When it comes to private jets, sadly, the signs aren’t looking good. Private jet travel is taking off, having risen nearly 25% in the last few years.

Private jet pollution is fueling growing conflict

Many folks are growing concerned about the emerging climate chaos and, tired of waiting, are starting to fight back. Efforts to ban private jet emissions are growing, with protests, arrests and victories occurring across Europe in particular. Some airports are banning private jets. Many regions are starting to ban advertisements for high-emission jet travel.

I read a lot about climate in my research as a climate reporter. And I’m seeing a lot more despair recently that the top 1% of emitters won’t ever reign in their atmosphere-dominating luxury emissions. One high-profile example of this is the climate author Andreas Malm (“How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a World on Fire”) who told the Guardian that he had not “a shred of hope” elites were prepared to take the urgent action needed to avert catastrophic climate change. “If we let the dominant classes take care of this problem, they’re going to drive at top speed into absolute inferno.” I certainly hope he is wrong.

I’m an optimist by nature. I still believe that most people are good and will choose to build a hopeful future before it’s too late. And, on this subject, I take heart in the fact that 75 per cent of British Columbians say they are concerned about the impact air travel emissions can have on the environment. But, I’m also aware that time is running out to avoid a dystopian future. As United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned recently, “humanity needs an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell … We are not only in danger. We are the danger. But we are also the solution.” Expanding private jet infrastructure is not an exit ramp to safety … it’s yet another on-ramp leading to ever expanding conflict and climate chaos.

This article presents my views and the facts as I know them. I know others on Cortes feel that private jets are reasonable to use and own, despite their climate impact. That’s made clear by the fact that people are spending a large sum of money to improve and pave a runway. People don’t build such expensive things if they aren't planning to use them. My hope is that the people in our community who do support private jet travel will share their views here as well. One of the most powerful tool we all have to avoid a climate catastrophe is to talk about it more often. So, let’s talk about climate pollution and our ideas for passing along a safe and sane future to our kids … and to all the generations that follow.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• SORRY, KIDS – "The accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere is irreversible on human timescales and will affect climate for millennia... " – World Meteorological Organization

• GREENWASH FUELS – The aviation industry claims it is switching to “Sustainable Aviation Fuel” (SAF) that will emit fewer greenhouse gas emissions. In reality, the industry is increasing fossil jet fuel burning 1,000x times faster. And SAF production is languishing. For an eye-opening look at the current state of this multi-decade, not-happening fuel try this Bloomberg article: “Waste-to-Fuel Company That Raised $1 Billion Verges on Collapse”.

• BURNING FOOD – Bloomberg also reports: “Europe’s airlines are quickly tying up the supply of available animal fats to produce biofuels, creating unintended ecological knock-on hazards that include a surge in palm-oil production … A flight from Paris to New York requires some 8,800 dead pigs”.

And Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, had this to say recently about plans to burn cooking oil in jets: “You want everybody running around collecting fucking cooking oil? There isn’t enough cooking oil in the world to power more than one day’s aviation.”

• ELECTRIC FLIGHT UPDATES – Last year NASA shut down its all-electric aircraft project after years of research and development. The program will conclude without any flights of the X-57 Maxwell aircraft.

And many will remember the media blitz back in 2019 about Vancouver’s Harbour Air first electric seaplane. Five years later it is, sadly, still in prototype mode and not flying passengers.

ADDITIONAL GRAPHICS: