Taylor Swift said to be offsetting carbon footprint but experts are sceptical
Taylor Swift is reportedly using carbon-offsetting to mitigate the impact of her private jet use, but climate change experts are sceptical.
The singer-songwriter made many, many headlines this past weekend as she appeared at the Super Bowl and publicly embraced her victorious partner, Kansas City Chiefs' Travis Kelce. An even more intense spotlight was shone on her private jet usage.
For weeks, scrutiny over singer Swift’s travel in private jets has been bubbling up on social media, with people pointing out the planet-warming emissions of carbon dioxide released with every flight.
The growing romance between Swift and Kelce has been closely watched, with the Shake It Off crooner showing up at several games — which has meant much travel on private jets as she heads back to the US from various legs of her world tour.
Taylor Swift's privately charter jet touched down at LAX on Saturday (Gene Blevins/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock)The pop star allegedly produced 138 tons of CO2 emissions in three months while commuting to visit Kelce, Newsweek reported. That is roughly 11 times more than the average Brit produces in a year, according to Open Access Government, and many times more than people in many developing countries produce in a lifetime.
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By flying to the Super Bowl from Tokyo, she emitted an estimated 19,000 miles worth of planet-warming emissions in her journey, according to the AP. Last week the Mirror reported that she has downsized to just one private jet after selling off her second one behind the scenes.
In response to some of the criticism - which many have argued is unfair given how many older, male billionaires produce similar emissions with little or no scrutiny - Swift’s publicist said the star purchased more than double the carbon credits needed to offset all tour travel.
Carbon offsets are one, often discussed, way to address air travel pollution. They aim to balance out emissions released. For example, trees pull carbon out of the air, so offset programs include planting trees that, at least in theory, balance out pollution from air travel.
Swift’s publicist told The Associated Press that "Taylor purchased more than double the carbon credits needed to offset all tour travel" before her tour began, but did not provide any details.
Still, there are many questions about the effectiveness of offsets. They are loosely regulated and investigations in recent years have shown some programs overestimate how much carbon is being captured or have questionable practices. There is no agreed upon calculation as to what fee will offset a given amount of carbon.
Carbon offsetting schemes also don't reduce the amount of emissions released into the atmosphere, they attempt to mitigate that amount further downstream, such as by planting trees. This is open to many potential points of failure, such as the trees being burned in a wildfire.
Jonathan Foley, executive director of Project Drawdown, said carbon offsetting was a "wild west".
He, along with many climate scientists and policy experts, argue that it would be much better to sharply reduce the use of planes, particularly of private jets, while developing cleaner fuels.
While flying is one of the most polluting activities most average people do, taking a private jet is much more damaging to the environment than going commercial. A 2023 study by the Institute for Policy Studies found that private jets emit at least 10 times more pollutants per passenger compared to commercial planes.
How realistic commercial travel would be for Swift is open for debate given she’s so famous that even if she wanted to, flying on commercial flights might be chaotic for an airline crew and any public airport she frequents.
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