Your pets produce just as much pollution as private jets, says luxury aviation company boss

A private jet interior. Marin Tomas/Getty Images

• Luxaviation’s CEO told a FT summit that one of his firm’s clients produced as much CO2 as three dogs per year.
• He was responding to criticism about the industry’s environmental impact amid soaring demand.
• Private jets emit at least 10 times more pollutants than commercial planes per passenger, per an IPS report.

A private jet company boss has defended his industry by comparing greenhouse emissions from private flights to pollution from pets.

Patrick Hansen, the CEO of Luxembourg-based Luxaviation, told the Financial Times Business of Luxury Summit in Monaco that one of his company’s customers produced just about 2.1 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year — about the same amount as what three dogs produce, according to a Wednesday report by the FT.

Hansen made the comment while responding to criticism about the industry’s environmental impact.

The executive referenced data from “How bad are bananas?” a book about the carbon footprint of a broad range of activities.

The book — authored by British professor Mike Berners-Lee — states a pet dog would be responsible for 0.7 tons of carbon emissions each year, the FT reported.

However, Berners-Lee did not seem pleased his book was being referenced in relation to the private jet industry, telling the FT he was “surprised and disappointed to hear data from my book being used to defend the bogus eco claims made by Luxaviation.”

Berners-Lee even questioned Hansen’s claim that one of his customers produced just 2.1 tons of carbon dioxide annually.

He told the FT the number looked “suspiciously low” and “must be for very short flights and very small planes.”

“The simple reality is that the emissions from luxury private jets are many times higher than for standard commercial flights. Nor is it reasonable to claim the climate damage can be undone by so-called ‘offsetting’,” he told the outlet.

“Luxury private jets are a huge carbon indulgence,” Berners-Lee said, per the FT.

But despite the environmental concerns, private jets continue to be in demand.

Private jets emit at least 10 times more pollutants than commercial planes on a per-passenger basis, according to a May 2023 joint report by the Institute for Policy Studies and Patriotic Millionaires, a group of high-net-worth individuals.

Still, private jets are “not going away, because they provide a service of time” to rich people, Hansen said at the FT summit.

Demand for private jets has soared since the COVID-19 pandemic as wealthy customers sought to avoid crowds, movement restrictions, and then travel chaos.

Luxaviation and Berners-Lee did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.