Tax frequent fliers, SUVs more heavily for impact on climate: Oxfam Novib
Oxfam Novib is pushing for the Dutch government to implement higher taxes on frequent fliers and SUVs to compensate for the damage they do to the environment. According to the aid organization, a higher and more progressive tax on frequent flyers and SUVs, which mainly affects the highest incomes, could generate around 3.7 to 4.4 billion euros in climate financing annually - money desperately needed by countries already being hit hard by the climate crisis, “which is mainly caused by rich countries.”
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the total CO2 emissions of all SUVs take fifth place in the world ranking of CO2 emissions, just behind Russia and ahead of Japan. SUVs are the second largest cause of the global increase in CO2 emissions in the past decade. Only the industrial sector increased emissions more. In the Netherlands, the number of vehicles in the highest weight class, more than 2,450 kg, increased by 97% in the past 5 years.
And the 50 richest billionaires in the world take an average of 184 private jet flights per year, spending 425 hours in the air. The CO2 emissions from these flights are as much as an average person would produce in 300 years. New calculations by Oxfam Novib showed that CO2 emissions from global air traffic have caused almost 434 billion euros in economic climate damage between 1990 and 2023. Golabby, 1 percent of frequent flyers are responsible for half of all CO2 emissions.
“Why should we separate waste, take shorter showers, or buy an expensive heat pump while a small group of super-rich people travels around the world in their private jets and superyachts as if the climate crisis does not exist? This cannot be explained to the average Dutch person who is repeatedly asked to pay for climate measures themselves,” said Jacqueline Persson, a climate expert at Oxfam Novib. “In the Netherlands, too, the super-rich do not care about the climate crisis. The richest 1% in the Netherlands emits almost nine times as much CO2 as the poorest half of the population.”
“Flying is one of the most polluting ways of traveling, and yet the aviation sector has been spared by governments for years. There is still no tax on kerosene, and the aviation sector is also given an additional twenty years to reduce CO2 emissions to zero. And in the Netherlands, the planned reduction of Schiphol is being reversed. How is that possible? The Schoof cabinet talks about green growth, but refuses to tackle one of the most polluting sectors. Yes, then we will not meet our climate target for 2030, as was shown last week,” says Persson.
According to Oxfam Novib, most Netherlands residents won’t notice these higher taxes at all. Approximately 3 percent of Dutch people fly more than five times a year. 70 percent don’t fly at all or once a year at most.
