"Can't believe she tried to convince her fans she's an activist": Taylor Swift under fire for being the celebrity with the most CO2 private jet emissions

Taylor Swift (Image via Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

A recent study has determined Taylor Swift as the celebrity with the highest CO2 emissions from private flights. Earlier this month, Kylie Jenner and Elon Musk received a lot of flak after it was alleged that they had used their jets to travel for less than 17 minutes.

Digital marketing agency Yard found in their study that Swift has racked up around 8,293 tonnes in CO2 emissions this year, as of July 20. The sustainability-focused firm further stated that the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter has traveled in more than 170 flights in 200 days, starting from January 1, 2022.

This revelation caused several netizens to express their disappointment in the All Too Well singer. Like many others, Twitter user @treacheresse pointed out how Swift writes about the usage of public transport in her songs but opts to cause such shocking amounts of CO2 emissions with her private jet. The user further said:

"I can't believe she tried to convince her fans she's an 'activist.'"

Criticism of Swift on Twitter (Image via treacheresse/Twitter)

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Taylor Swift's excessive private jet usage revealed, criticism abounds online

According to Yard's study, Taylor Swift used her private jet for more than 170 flights between January 1 and July 20 in 2022. The 32-year-old singer recorded around 80 minutes of average flight time and more than 22,923 minutes of total airtime, as per the report.

The study further claims that Swift's CO2 emissions from her private jet in this period were "1,184.8 times more than the average person's total annual emissions." Her shortest recorded flight time this year (as of yet) was around 36 minutes.

Yard's data seems to be accurate, and collected via Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) tracking of Swift's jet, a 2009 Dassault Falcon 7X. As known to many in the flight community, most private and commercial jets can be tracked with their registration number at ADS-B services like ADSBexchange.com with the help of unfiltered flight data.

Swift's jet flight track (Image via ADSBexchange.com)

Most of Swift's flight time was likely accumulated when she visited her partner Joe Alwyn in the United Kingdom. Interestingly, Swift's flight seems to be en route to the UK again as of publishing.

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Taylor Swift's jet

Taylor Swift owns a 2009 Dassault Falcon 7X, a long-range, large-cabin airplane with three Pratt & Whitney Canada engines. This means that the jet burns more fuel for flights as compared to light business aircrafts like Honda Jet. According to GuardianJet, Swift's aircraft, aka the Dassault Falcon 7X, consumes over 380 gallons of fuel per hour. However, fuel consumption usually depends on factors like carrying weight, altitude, and weather, amongst others.

In comparison, Car and Driver claims that the HondaJet burns "about 165 gallons of fuel over 600 nautical miles (690 miles)." While it is expected that Swift's large-cabin jet will consume more fuel than a light jet, it does indicate that there are more economical and sustainable alternatives available even amongst private jets.

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Netizens react to Taylor Swift's private jet usage and CO2 emissions

As the report on celebrity jet usage by Yard agency went viral online, numerous social media users mocked the singer-songwriter for her excessive flying. A few pointed out how Kylie Jenner received so much flak over her usage of private jets for short commutes when Swift had flown almost 0.85 times a day for nearly seven months.

Amid numerous jokes and criticisms, a significant portion of Swift's fandom came to her defense. Some of them even alleged that the data presented by Yard was fake. However, as mentioned above, the agency likely compiled the report using publicly accessible ADS-B flight data.