4 ms·

Private jets should be required to burn biofuels or purchase carbon offsets. If you can afford a private jet, you can easily afford to make it carbon neutral.

maxehmookau 2y ago
Taxes on jet fuel for private usage should be 3x higher too. It's not real money to these folks; I doubt he'd even notice.
- harha 2y ago
  If you consider the per seat cost compared to commercial, I don’t think making it a bit more expensive will move the needle.
  - maxehmookau 2y ago
    Exactly. And the old story of "oh well the rich will take their money elsewhere" won't work. They need to stay in the US, that's the whole point. Maybe there will be a point where it works out cheaper to fly to another country to fuel up though. I'm sure some tax policy folks could figure this out better than I. Tax the ~~rich~~ ultra-wealthy, and their thoughtless damage to our environment. It's about as close to a victimless tax-rise as could ever exist.
- pjc50 2y ago
  Insanely, the Chicago Convention of 1944 exempts international flights from any fuel tax. https://www.icao.int/publications/pages/doc7300.aspx https://www.icao.int/publications/pages/doc7300.aspx Various attempts to work round this without rewriting the convention have been discussed, e.g. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn00523/ https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn00... but I don't think they've got anywhere. The US _might_ be able to tax fuel on domestic flights, but that would result in the California to Seattle flight going via Canada to avoid the tax.
  - wkat4242 2y ago
    Part of this has a decent reason: If fuel is much cheaper in e.g. Dubai, airlines will chock their planes full of fuel instead of the optimised amount, leading to overburning of fuel due to excessive transportation of it. And the opposite, they will skimp on fuel going inbound to there. Of course fuel qty is the captain's decision, however a lot of airlines already pressure those. As one example Ryanair had a "list of shame" of captains bringing too much safety fuel in their eyes.
    - maxehmookau 2y ago
      The idea that airlines can pressure captains in to doing _anything_ is terrifying and should be utterly outlawed.
passwordoops 2y ago
How about this instead: if the company you are a CxO at has ever once spoken about how sustainable/green/environmental it is, you're not allowed private jets. In fact if the trip doesn't require you to cross an ocean, you can take a bike. Any violators will be held personally liable with a fine up to 150% of said corporation's global profits
wkat4242 2y ago
Biofuel-fueled jets aren't carbon neutral. The building of the jets, the material extraction, the maintenance, the work around growing the fuels, the processing, the transportation, most of that is not fully sustainable. It's only "less bad" for the climate crisis, not better. Definitely not perfect.
- anshumankmr 2y ago
  Something is better than nothing.

maxehmookau 2y ago

Taxes on jet fuel for private usage should be 3x higher too. It's not real money to these folks; I doubt he'd even notice.

harha 2y ago
If you consider the per seat cost compared to commercial, I don’t think making it a bit more expensive will move the needle.
- maxehmookau 2y ago
  Exactly. And the old story of "oh well the rich will take their money elsewhere" won't work. They need to stay in the US, that's the whole point. Maybe there will be a point where it works out cheaper to fly to another country to fuel up though. I'm sure some tax policy folks could figure this out better than I. Tax the ~~rich~~ ultra-wealthy, and their thoughtless damage to our environment. It's about as close to a victimless tax-rise as could ever exist.
pjc50 2y ago
Insanely, the Chicago Convention of 1944 exempts international flights from any fuel tax. https://www.icao.int/publications/pages/doc7300.aspx https://www.icao.int/publications/pages/doc7300.aspx Various attempts to work round this without rewriting the convention have been discussed, e.g. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn00523/ https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn00... but I don't think they've got anywhere. The US _might_ be able to tax fuel on domestic flights, but that would result in the California to Seattle flight going via Canada to avoid the tax.
- wkat4242 2y ago
  Part of this has a decent reason: If fuel is much cheaper in e.g. Dubai, airlines will chock their planes full of fuel instead of the optimised amount, leading to overburning of fuel due to excessive transportation of it. And the opposite, they will skimp on fuel going inbound to there. Of course fuel qty is the captain's decision, however a lot of airlines already pressure those. As one example Ryanair had a "list of shame" of captains bringing too much safety fuel in their eyes.
  - maxehmookau 2y ago
    The idea that airlines can pressure captains in to doing _anything_ is terrifying and should be utterly outlawed.

passwordoops 2y ago

How about this instead: if the company you are a CxO at has ever once spoken about how sustainable/green/environmental it is, you're not allowed private jets. In fact if the trip doesn't require you to cross an ocean, you can take a bike. Any violators will be held personally liable with a fine up to 150% of said corporation's global profits

wkat4242 2y ago

Biofuel-fueled jets aren't carbon neutral. The building of the jets, the material extraction, the maintenance, the work around growing the fuels, the processing, the transportation, most of that is not fully sustainable. It's only "less bad" for the climate crisis, not better. Definitely not perfect.

anshumankmr 2y ago
Something is better than nothing.