What do Taylor Swift, Jay-Z and the Kardashians have in common? Well, according to data collected by internet sleuths, they’re among the celebrities racking up the most CO2 emissions thanks to their prolific use of private jets.
The regular use of private jets by musicians, actors and other celebrities has attracted more attention in recent years, both due to increasing concern about climate change and the mismatch between the “relatable” persona projected by artists like Swift and how they actually live.
Celebrities have been flying in private jets forever, right? Why are we caring about this now?
A few months ago one clever coder named Jack Sweeney discovered open-source data that tracks where private plans owned by celebrities were travelling, and how frequently. And as any genius might do, he’s started a Twitter account tracking the data.
Taylor Swift’s plane racked up 170 days of flights in the first 200 days of this year.Credit:AP/Twitter
This week, a sustainability marketing firm collated that data and ranked celebrities by the amount of time their plans spent in the air.
Nice. Who’s on top?
Taylor Swift.
A-ha.
Data showed her plane racked up 170 flights in the first 200 days of this year alone, releasing 8,294 tonnes of carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
Wait, is that a lot?
Well, yes. The firm that collated the data said the emissions from Swift’s jet since the beginning of the year represent more than 1000 times the average person’s yearly emissions.
The rest of the list is interesting, too: American boxing legend Floyd Mayweather comes in second, Kim Kardashian is seventh, and Oprah Winfrey is ninth on the list no one really wants to be on.