Environment Minister Christophe Bechu said the French government supports raising taxes on private jets next year. Aligning the taxation of aviation fuels with that of car fuels is the government’s plan.
The statement comes after some of the lawmakers from President Emmanuel Macron’s bloc filed an amendment to the 2023 tax bill.
Twitter accounts are tracking the private jet flights
In the meantime, several Twitter accounts tracking the private jet flights of French billionaires have emerged. When billionaires’ flights became visible to the public, it caused a public uproar over the wealthy’s emissions while average citizens are now being urged to make energy savings.
The leading Twitter account, “I Fly Bernard“, account tracks every move of a jet belonging to Bernard Arnault. Arnault is the CEO of LVMH and one of the richest men in the world.
Greens are for ban, the government would just adjust the regulations
The leader of the French Green party, Julien Bayou, favors an outright ban. He said it is not tolerable for some people with just a few flights to burn 50 years of energy consumption of an average French citizen.
The members of France’s main opposition bloc on the left called for a complete ban, but the government said it was open to adjusting regulations.
Thus, an outright ban is not an option discussed.
But, government spokesman Olivier Veran said in August that the government promotes reasonable energy consumption. Thus, regulating private planes would send a message to the public that the same rules apply to all. He added that private jets have just a symbolic value.
Same rules for private jets EU-wide
In August, the French government said it will consult its partners in the European Union on ways to regulate private jet emissions. French Transport Minister Clement Beaune proposed EU ministers look at ways to compensate for CO2 emissions of private jet flights. According to Beaune, it is more efficient to act on compensating CO2 emissions at a European level because it will produce the same rules EU-wide and will result in the most impact.
Since this summer, imposing stricter regulations on private jet emissions has been a hot topic in France. It’s likely climate change, according to scientists, caused wildfires that ravaged the country amid severe heat waves this summer.