An EU court has said the manufacture of private jets can’t be excluded from a list of activities deemed to be environmentally sustainable, fuelling concerns about the greenwashing of the emissions of the super-rich.
The list, intended to provide an overview of green investments, previously excluded aircraft for private or commercial business aviation due to their high emissions compared with other forms of transport following a 2023 decision by the European Commission.
But French planemaker Dassault Aviation contested the decision, calling it unlawful, and the EU’s General Court has now ruled in its favour, Reuters reported last week.
The court argued that the 2023 ruling was made with a number of errors, including that other modes of transport couldn’t necessarily be seen as low-carbon alternatives as they “lack the flexibility and speed” of private jets.
Emissions of private jets related to the operation of aircraft, the court added, not to how they are manufactured, and the European Commission had failed to take into account that private jets could use sustainable fuel.
Private jets produced up to 19.5m tonnes of emissions in 2023, more than from all flights departing Heathrow airport that year, the International Council on Clean Transportation reported.
In 2024, climate scientists warned that the mega-rich use private jets like taxis – and found that flying in a private jet for a single hour can release more CO2 into the atmosphere than the average person produces in a year.
The European Commission can appeal the decision within two months.
