While government refuses to reveal details of Prime Minister’s private jet use at taxpayer expense
Campaigners have announced that private jets ‘are even worse than we thought’ after new research presents their high carbon footprint and low rate of taxation in the UK as post-pandemic luxury travel grows.
One in ten flights from UK airports are now from private jets, research by the climate action campaign group Possible found. Pre-pandemic, 7.5% of flights were private, which peaked at 20% during the pandemic and now sits at 10%.
Emissions from private jets are 30 times higher than normal flights, yet activists have stressed that the taxation is not proportionate. Half of private jet passengers pay the same rate of tax as passengers on standard flights, whilst one in five private jets pay no tax at all.
Possible are calling for a ban on private jets by 2030, with a proper tax system in place until then. The group’s report ‘jetting away with it’ found that, the more polluting an individual’s flight is, the lower the effective rate of tax per tonne of emissions.
[Guardian] Exclusive: Document ‘falls far short’ of what is needed to safeguard lives and livelihoods from heat, drought and storms, say experts
The government’s plan to cope with the climate crisis has been condemned as “very weak” by experts, who say not enough is being done to protect lives and livelihoods.
Responding to the document, which was leaked to the Guardian, one highlighted its failure to adequately protect people in the UK from extreme heat. The heatwave in 2022, when temperatures surpassed 40C for the first time, led to the early deaths of more than 3,000 people, wildfires, buckled rail lines and farmers struggling with drought. Southern Europe is in the grip of a searing heatwave.
Another expert said there was a “yawning gap” in measures to restore nature, which is a vital part of adapting to climate change.
The National Adaptation Programme is expected to be published on Tuesday by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which is required by law to produce a plan every five years. In March, the government’s official advisers, the Climate Change Committee, said its publication would be a “make-or-break moment”.
Ministers have been criticised for years over the failure to make adequate plans for the impacts of global heating. The CCC said in March that the UK was “strikingly unprepared” and that there had been a “lost decade” in action on adaptation. It said heatwaves, droughts, floods and storms would intensify in the coming years until carbon emissions reached net zero.
Just Stop Oil activist Eddie Whittingham arrested following protest at University of Exeter graduation ceremony.
A Just Stop Oil activist has disrupted his graduation ceremony at the University of Exeter as a call for students to take action against the UK Government’s plans to licence new oil and gas projects.
At 1:15pm, Eddie Whittingham, 25, was tackled by security as he sprayed a university courtyard orange with a paint-loaded fire extinguisher, while his graduating cohort looked on. Shortly beforehand he had received his BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. He was arrested at the scene.
Eddie is known for high-profile Just Stop Oil actions, including the interruption of the World Snooker Championship in April 2023, where he climbed a snooker table at The Crucible Theatre and released orange-coloured powder.
Speaking before his action today, he said:
“My name’s Eddie, I’m 25 years old and I’m about to disrupt my own graduation ceremony. Exactly 3 months ago, I disrupted the snooker world championship. I’m taking these actions because our government has failed young people like me.”
“They have failed to cut greenhouse gas emissions in line with science. They have failed to prepare us for the inevitable disruption that they have caused. They’re driving our society towards collapse by continuing to allow new oil, gas and coal. This is a violation of the advice of the International Energy Agency, the United Nations and thousands and thousands of climate scientists all around the world, who have been warning us for years: new fossil fuels means death.”
“As a result, 1 billion people may be displaced from their homes by 2030. That’s 7 years away. We face a future of mass-starvation and unimaginable suffering, including here in the UK. And all of this is happening so a small handful of extremely rich people can carry on getting even richer.”
“Universities, rather than preparing young people for this inevitable disruption, are instead upholding a status quo that is going to kill millions, if not billions of people. That’s why I’m calling on students everywhere to join us in resistance against this criminal government.”
“What use is a university degree if you can’t feed yourself? What use is an “education” if society is collapsing around you? Each one of us has a choice: die quietly or get into resistance. It’s now or never.”
Also arrested was Kostja Junglas, 27, a PhD student at Oxford University. They were tackled by University of Exeter security for attempting to hold up a banner to the crowd of graduates.
In 2022, the University of Exeter began a new partnership with Shell Oil, building on decades of collaboration between the university and the company. The stated aim of the project is ‘Carbon Sequestration’, a speculative technology that would allow Shell to continue producing fossil fuels whilst reducing their carbon emissions. However, experts that don’t stand to gain from Shell profits have declared carbon sequestration unviable: “Many international bodies and national government are relying on carbon capture in the fossil fuel sector to get to net zero, and it simply won’t work,” according to Bruce Robertson, the author of an Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis report on the topic. Students are campaigning for the university to cut ties with Shell under the name ‘Shell Out’.
The first week of July 2023 is believed to have been the hottest in the history of humanity, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. The highest temperature in recorded history has been set repeatedly in the last few weeks, and this pattern is expected to continue. “We are in uncharted territory and we can expect more records to fall as El Niño develops further and these impacts will extend into 2024,” said Christopher Hewitt, World Meteorological Organisation director of climate services, adding “This is worrying news.” The impacts of this climate crisis are already devastating, and will only multiply in the short term.
Since the Just Stop Oil campaign launched on 14th February 2022, there have been 2,200 arrests and 138 people have spent time in prison, many without trial. Just Stop Oil supporters Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker are serving three year prison sentences for resisting new oil, gas and coal.
Just Stop Oil is calling on everyone to get off the sidelines and join in civil resistance against new oil, gas and coal.
The Green Party has accused the Labour Party of failing the climate and the people of the UK after watering down its pledge to invest £28bn a year in green industries if it wins power at the next general election.
Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said
“This highlights more than ever why it is necessary to have more Green MPs elected at the next General Election.
“We are witnessing environmental breakdown at an increasingly alarming rate, so you would have thought the Labour Party would understand that we need to see a transformational change if we are going to tackle the climate emergency along with the cost of living crisis that is causing so much harm in our society.
“Yet once again we see them offer a policy that does not go far enough, and then row back at the first sign of any difficulty.
“The Green Party has pledged to invest almost £100bn each year for ten years to decarbonise our economy, including £25bn alone on insulating people’s homes, £12bn on increasing our renewable capacity and £14bn on rail and walking and cycling.
“Only the Green Party is coming forward with the practical and sensible solutions to the crises this country faces and whoever wins at the next general election, it is vital we have a group of Green MPs fighting for the environment and those who have been ignored for too long by the main two parties.”
There are difficulties keeping abreast of Last Generation / Letzte Generation activities in Germany since they are often reported only in the German language. I’ve used online translation for this article but it certainly appears that Last Generation are very active at the moment.
The south-east tangent (A23) was blocked by climate activists of the “last generation” on Monday morning. Both directions of travel were affected by the action. Traffic collapsed at times.
Online since today, 11.20 a.m
There were protests in a total of six places today, 40 people were involved in the protests, according to “Last Generation”. “The first blockades began today at half past seven in the morning, we were at Altmannsdorfer Ast until ten to nine,” said “Last Generation” spokesman David Sonnenbaum.
It’s about “reminding the government of its legal obligation to protect the population,” continued “Last Generation” spokesman Florian Wagner. The climate activists drove to the southeast tangent in vehicles. There they got out and glued themselves.
Early traffic in Vienna was at a standstill at times
The result of the action was the temporary closure of the A23 at the Absberg tunnel not far from the roundabout. Commuters had to dodge the S1 over a large area. Also on the S1 it jammed later. “We have always assigned police officers just in case,” police spokesman Markus Dittrich told wien.ORF.at. More than 20 arrests were made.
Previously, there had already been no progress in either direction on the A23 to Vösendorf or the Prater junction. The west entrance was also a traffic jam hotspot. The police reported blockades at Altmannsdorfer Ast, at Schönbrunn Palace and at Schüttelstrasse. According to Radio Vienna Traffic Information, there were severe delays in early traffic.
“The richest are ruining our future”
“The richest are ruining our future,” read one of the activists’ banners. An indication that in Austria the emissions of the richest percent of the population have increased by a whopping 45 percent since 1990, while the majority of the population today cause less CO2, according to the “Last Generation”. On Tuesday, the activists will announce further planned protests.
