US pop star Taylor Swift has been accused of being the number one polluter of carbon dioxide emissions with a whopping 8,000 plus tonnes. Now, a spokesperson for the ‘Shake it Off” star has come up with a swift response to the allegations by stating that they are “blatantly incorrect”.
Taylor Swift’s carbon footprint
In a survey conducted by sustainability marketing firm Yard, Taylor Swift has taken 170 flights since January, amassing 22,923 minutes in the air which is equivalent to 15.9 days. Her private jets average flight time is only 80 minutes with an average of 139.36 miles travelled per flight.
Yard then calculated that her total flight emissions for the year are 8,293.54 tonnes which is 1,184.8 times more than the average person’s annual emissions. The stars shortest flight was 36 minutes on a trip from the state of Missouri to Tennessee.
However, this wasn’t the shortest celebrity flight this year as Kylie Jenner was blasted on social media for taking a 3 minute flight to avoid traffic.
It’s not her, it’s the loaners
Taylor Swift Isn’t the carbie barbie the world is making her out to be as her jet is loaned out on a regular basis according to the spokesperson who spoke to Rolling Stone.
“Taylor’s jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals. To attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect.”
In other words, all the viral videos circulating on TikTok poking fun at Taylor Swift’s alleged top CO2 polluter status are coming from people who just want to “hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.”
Some users have even joked that Kris Jenner made the allegation that Taylor Swift was the number one polluter to redirect the backlash her daughter Kylie received for those 3 minute flights.
Yard’s list is not conclusive
Yard has clarified on their website that their list of the top 10 carbon dioxide polluters is not conclusive to the biggest offenders, but specifically the biggest offenders according to data presented on the CelebrityJets Twitter page.
The list on Yard’s website features stars such as Floyd Mayweather, Jay-Z, J-Lo’s ex-fiancé and baseball star Anthony Rodriguez and Blake Shelton in the Top 5 spots.
As Mayweather apparently took a 10 minute flight to Las Vegas, perhaps he was an unnamed guest at J-Lo’s private wedding to Ben Affleck last month.
Let’s be honest, he’d be a great bartender because he knows how to pack a punch.
“It’s easy to get lost in the dazzling lives of the rich and famous, but, unfortunately, they’re a massive part of the CO2e problem we have with the aviation industry. Aviation is responsible for 2.4% of human-produced CO2e every year, and research shows a vast divide between the super-rich and the rest of us regarding flights, travel, and even general emissions.” Says Yard Digital Sustainability Director Chris Butterworth.
Private jets emit more than 33 million tonnes of greenhouse gases every year which is more than the country of Denmark. They are 5 to 14 times more polluting than commercial planes and up to 50 times more polluting than trains.