An alliance of countries is forming, agreed on increasing aviation taxes on premium flights and private jets, in a push to raise funds to address climate injustice and promote sustainable development.
European nations joining the effort include Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain, while Barbados and Kenya have also pledged support, according to announcements made at the UN development summit in Seville, Spain.
Dubbed “an unprecedented collaborative plan” that will directly confront “aviation’s role in climate change and fostering climate equity” by Travel and Tour World (TTW), the agreement targets those most responsible for aviation’s environmental impacts – a policy supported by 75% of people, according to a Greenpeace and Oxfam survey.
Aviation emits more than 2.5 per cent of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, and its emissions are still growing. Yet, less than 1% of the world’s population generates more than half of all that aviation-related pollution, TTW points out. Flying premium emits around four times as much as flying economy. Worse, private jets emit up to fourteen times more CO₂ per passenger than commercial flights, and nearly fifty times more than high-speed rail.
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— Aviation Week (@AviationWeek) July 2, 2025
The Global Solidarity Levies Task Force came into being at COP28 in November 2023 and is supported by French President Macron, who welcomed Spain’s involvement, calling it “very good news”. Urging all countries to participate in the “key” strategy, he said: “We need those that benefited from globalisation to contribute more to financing.”
Commenting on the pledge, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a statement: “The aim is to help improve green taxation and foster international solidarity by promoting more progressive and harmonised tax systems.”
The joint action is driving forward an EU-wide framework to place fiscal levers on the highest-polluting activities, such as first-class, business-class, and private flying. Not only is this hoped to induce restraint among the guilty parties but also, by limiting the number of airports and jurisdictions where taxes remain lower, will close the loopholes the ultra-rich use to fly around the issue. Its revenues will go towards rail network development and sustainable aviation initiatives, the partnership says.
Disappointed at a proposed air travel tax that could raise €78 billion (3 times the industry’s annual profit).
— IATA (@IATA) July 4, 2025
It threatens sustainability goals, ignores CORSIA, and risks higher costs for all.
Details ⬇️ https://t.co/xLIBBfxuAx pic.twitter.com/Cq4q3sVium
Slamming flying as “the most elite and polluting form of travel”, Rebecca Newsom, global political lead for Greenpeace International’s Stop Drilling Start Paying campaign, called the coalition “an important step towards ensuring that the binge users of this undertaxed sector are made to pay their fair share.”
