The environmental organization Greenpeace sees the climate endangered by more and more private flights in Europe. According to an analysis by the research institute CE Delft, the number of private flights in Europe last year rose by 64 percent to 572,806, the organization criticized and called for an EU-wide ban on private aircraft because of the climate-damaging consequences.

As early as 2021, the level of private flights will have reached that of before the corona crisis. The flights in 2022 would have caused almost 3.4 million tons of CO2 emissions, which corresponds to the annual amount of 555,000 EU residents, according to the study presented. The CO2 emissions of the individual aircraft were determined using a calculation tool from the flight safety organization Eurocontrol.

According to the evaluation, Germany is the country with the third most private flights after Great Britain and France. The 58,424 flight movements in this country released 208,645 tons of carbon dioxide. The Berlin-Cologne route was flown most frequently, ahead of Berlin-London and Munich-London. The shortest registered route with more than ten flights a year was Stuttgart-Böblingen, which are less than 15 kilometers apart as the crow flies.

"While the super-rich fly private jets like there's no tomorrow, poorer people from the Global South are suffering the most from the consequences of the climate crisis," said Greenpeace mobility expert Lena Donat. "Climate-damaging private jets are the most ruthless form of mobility. They should be banned."

According to Greenpeace, only flights with private aircraft that have at least three seats were recorded. According to the list, there are also some propeller models. Sightseeing flights and take-offs at small airports without IATA identification were not registered. At the beginning of the year, the research association NDR and "Süddeutsche Zeitung" reported on the number of 94,000 business flights in Germany using a different calculation basis.

Communication Greenpeace Study CE Delft