Taylor Swift: Claims about using a private jet are ‘demonstrably incorrect’, spokesperson says | Taylor Swift

A spokesperson for Taylor Swift has denied the US pop star is responsible for ‘most or all’ of the trips made on her private jet after she was accused of being the company’s most used celebrity. sustainable marketing Yard, calling the claim “blatantly”. Incorrect”.

Yard’s investigation found that Swift’s plane completed 170 flights between January 1 and July 29, 2022, totaling 15.9 days in the air with an average flight time of 80 minutes and 139.36 miles per flight. Total flight emissions for 2022 have been calculated at 8,293.54 tonnes, which is 1,184.8 times more than the total annual emissions of an average person.

“Taylor’s jet is regularly loaned out to other people,” the spokesperson told the Guardian, declining further comment.

Yard compiled data from the Celebrity Jets Twitter Accountwhich automatically tracks certain aircraft, to highlight ‘the detrimental impact of using private jets’ after fans called out celebrities including Drake, Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner for taking surprisingly short flights at one time deep climate crisis.

In July, Jenner, who is in a relationship with Scott, posted a photo of their respective jets on Instagram with the caption: “do you want to take mine or yours?” The Celebrity Jets Twitter account revealed that Jenner’s flight later that day only lasted 17 minutes.

Drake tried to defend his use of a huge private jet — a $185 million Boeing 767 that could seat hundreds of people, modified to his likings — for a series of flights under 20 minutes by saying the plane was moved to a storage location and had no passengers on board. One fan replied, “OK but it’s worse, can’t you see how it’s worse?”

While Scott ranked No. 10 in Yard’s survey, neither Drake nor Jenner made the list of the 10 worst offenders. Swift was closely followed by boxer Floyd Mayweather, with emissions of 7,076.8 tonnes of CO2, and Jay-Z, with 6,981.3 tonnes.

Former baseball player Alex Rodriguez ranked at No. 4, country singer Blake Shelton at No. 5, director Steven Spielberg at No. 6, Kim Kardashian at No. 7, Mark Wahlberg at No. 8, Oprah Winfrey at No. No. 9 and Scott at No. 10.

Private jets emit more than 33 million tonnes of greenhouse gases every year, more than Denmark. Their low passenger loads mean they are 5 to 14 times more polluting than commercial aircraft per passenger, and 50 times more polluting than trains. Only 1% of the world’s population is responsible for half of the emissions associated with flight.

CelebJets’ Twitter and Instagram accounts are run by Jack Sweeney, a University of Central Florida student coder who once tracked the movements of Russian oligarchs and tech mogul Elon Musk, who allegedly offered him $5,000 to stop to follow his movements. “The time and dedication I put into it is cool,” Sweeney told Bloomberg. “$5,000 is not enough to let him down. »

Yard’s digital sustainability director, Chris Butterworth, said: “It’s easy to get lost in the dazzling lives of the rich and famous, but sadly they are a big part of the CO2e problem we have with the ‘aviation industry. Aviation is responsible for 2.4% of human-produced CO2e each year, and research shows a vast gap between the super-rich and the rest of us when it comes to flights, travel and even general broadcasts.

Yard said its research was “not conclusive for the highest offenders, but the highest offenders based on data presented on Celebrity Jets’ Twitter page” and said it was unclear whether the respective owners planes were on every flight.