‘Blatantly incorrect’: Taylor Swift’s representative speaks out amid jet usage backlash

After a study revealed that Taylor Swift was the leading celebrity with the most carbon dioxide emission, her representative issued a statement to clarify things. 

Speaking with the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, July 31, the singer-songwriter’s representative spoke out in defense against a study published by the Yard which claimed Swift as the biggest climate offender who emitted 9,142 tons of carbon dioxide within a total of 170 flights since January of this year.

“Taylor’s jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals,” stated Swift’s rep. “To attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect.” 

Over the course of seven months, Yard reported that the pop star's CO2 emissions were “1,184.8 times more than the average person's total annual emissions.” According to the study, Swift’s jet has flown a total of 22,923 minutes or 15.9 days with the shortest recorded flight of 36 minutes for a trip from Missouri to Nashville.

Other celebrities like Floyd Mayweather, Jay-Z, Kim Kardashian, and Travis Scott also made it into the Yard’s list of top offenders for CO2 emissions.

Just recently, Kylie Jenner faced online backlash after she posted a picture of herself and Travis Scott on the runway of an airport between two private jets with the caption: “you wanna take mine or yours?”

Fans later then found out that she traveled from Van Nuys to Camarillo on July 12 via her jet, and it lasted only 17 minutes.

Private jets, which are usually the preferred transport of Hollywood celebrities, have a disproportionate impact on the environment. In a 2021 report published by Transport & Environment, a European non-government organization, the carbon footprint of private jets is 5 to 14 times more polluting than commercial planes and 50 times more polluting than trains.