Taylor Swift & Carbon Emissions: Two Unlikely Companions

Taylor Swift this, Taylor Swift that. Taylor Swift is all I hear about these days — how she is revolutionizing the industry, smashing records, and amassing a fandom that would do anything for her. But I don’t hear about the negatives of her fame as often, which can be more important to discuss than any musical accomplishment. 

Climate change and Taylor Swift are probably two topics you never thought would align, but here we are. With the resurgence of her global fame in the last few years, Taylor Swift has been performing concert after concert all over the planet. This high demand requires her to travel from place to place quickly, using only the best of the best transport for the world’s favorite pop star. As a result, Swift takes her private jet to every concert and event. You may not think this simple mode of transport is detrimental, but she has become one of the top personal carbon emitters worldwide. 

Just last year, Yard, a company that tracks celebrities’ private plane rides, reported that Swift’s total flight emissions were 8,293.54 tonnes. Regarding how much pollution this is, the average global per capita carbon emission in 2020 was 4.3 tons. Therefore, Swift’s private footprint alone was 1,928 times the global average for flights that were just above 80 minutes in length on average. These statistics are absurd, and her intense fame and admiration cannot excuse this level of pollution. 

As a result of these findings, Taylor Swift is now the celeb with the highest carbon emissions from her jet, beating others like Oprah and Jay-Z, according to Yard. Naturally, the public demanded a response, which Swift’s personal relations team responded with: “Taylor’s jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals…to attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect.” Here, they try to convince fans that the emissions are not solely her’s, but even if this is true, whether or not Swift was on all of these flights is not the point. The private jet is still under Swift’s name and responsibility. Therefore, Swift and her staff should focus on amending the root issue and addressing climate concerns. 

Swift’s platform is so prominent and influential, reaching many people of so many ages. For her to ignore her massive impact on our diminishing environment is wrong. She could be using her reach to promote climate support rather than showing it is okay to be wasteful because she is a celebrity. This specific conflict is a call to all celebrities to look at their actions and impacts on society and make the harder choices to show others how pertinent climate action is on so many levels. 

• carbon emission
• climate change
• Taylor Swift