Elon Musk dreams of colonizing Mars, but here on Earth he’s settled for frequent flier of the sky. The Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX CEO, and world’s second-richest man, also holds the title of most active private jet user in the U.S., according to a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies and the Patriotic Millionaires. Musk has tried to keep details regarding private jet use private, famously suspending an account from college student Jack Sweeney, and this report establishes just how much Musk flies privately—it’s a lot.
The report from the left-leaning IPS and the Patriotic Millionaires, who regularly urge the government to raises taxes on them, looked at Wealth-X data regarding the relative net worths of jet owners, as well as Federal Aviation Administration user data, along with public information regarding figures like Musk.
Clocking in at a little under one flight every two days, the report found Musk’s travels consumed 837,934 liters of jet fuel and produced 2,112 tons of CO2 emissions just last year—132 times that of the average American. He’s been expanding his collectibles; Musk owns four jets and recently dropped $78 million on a Gulfstream G700, intended to replace his Gulfstream G650ER.
While climate change is a man-made global issue, research like this has found that some particular men are making the crisis bigger, as companies and high-net-worth individuals tend to account for especially hefty individual contributions. This report puts a number on the environmental cost of five-minute flights typical of Musk and other private jet fliers. Wealthy jet fliers release at least 10 times more pollutants per passenger than regular air flights, explain the authors. Private plane usage has skyrocketed over the past couple of years, as the pandemic divided people into their own bubbles. It all means that the wealthiest 1% is responsible for a Godzilla-size carbon footprint, with the report arguing that 1% of the population are likely responsible for half of all air-related carbon emissions. And Musk, the top of the 1%, is an even bigger proportion within that small group.
The affluent’s greater share of pollution has led the