‘Flight Shame’ and the Jet Fuel Tax Threat

"There is only one way to finance costs created by climate change - through taxes". Swedish Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson's 20-Jun-2019 comments to a Netherlands-hosted conference on carbon pricing and aviation taxes, represent a growing view among Europe's politicians and electorates. The conference proposed a jet fuel tax.

The Swedish word flygskam, 'flight shame' in English, underpins an anti flying movement that has spread from Scandinavia to other European countries. It reflects a growing sentiment, particularly in the developed world, that flying is a source of guilt and shame because of its climate change impact. Sweden introduced a per trip aviation tax in 2018, but Ms Andersson would like to introduce a tax on jet fuel. Meanwhile, the 2018 tax and public sentiment towards aviation's climate change impact are depressing demand for air travel in Sweden.

Only a small proportion of the world's population flies, but for those that do, it can account for a very significant proportion of the CO2 emissions attributable to them individually.

As a result of 'flight shame', this is causing a small but growing number of people to reduce or even eliminate discretionary air travel. Global aviation should watch Sweden with care.