Carbon credits and elite climate change...

Editor's note: ...rhetoric coming out of the WEF exposes a dilemma: those with private jets and limitless consumption buy moral absolution on paper while outsourcing sacrifice to the peasant slave class. "Net zero" is a financial instrument, not a lived restraint. Carbon emissions are laundered through offsets, guilt is priced in, and accountability is deferred. For the peasant slave class, climate policy arrives as higher costs, deindustrialization, taxes, tighter restrictions, and fewer choices; for the super-wealthy who flew into Davos on 709 private jets, it's a branding exercise that preserves their privilege untouched. But wait a minute here, forget the private jets. In this system which is pointless criticizing or trying to change, climate change concerns is performative, carbon is commodified, your existence means very little and justice is inverted. The money represented here doesn't reduce harm, it merely purchases might makes right. No, the super rich don't need a tax, just take the tax burden off the productive class like the tax paying engineers, factory workers, aircraft refuelers and the people who do the maintenance on aircraft and manage the airports.
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Use of private jets to Davos has soared in the past three years. Is it time for a super-rich tax?

January 18, 2026 | By Liam Gilliver

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has gotten off to a bumpy start as participants are criticised for their soaring use of private jets.

All eyes turn to Davos today, as the World Economic Forum (WEF) commences its annual meeting. [Editor's note: No, most eyes didn't turn to Davis, in fact, most people on the planet could care less.]

Some of the world's most powerful elite, including government leaders and business execs, have gathered in Switzerland to engage in "forward-looking discussions to address global issues and set priorities".

One of the key themes of this year's event is building prosperity "within planetary boundaries" - with WEF highlighting that nature loss impacts 75 per cent of Earth's land and poses "significant economic risks". The argument that the world should transition to nature-positive business models to unlock $10 trillion (around €8.6 trillion) annually by 2030 will be put forward tomorrow (20 January) following discussions around electric vehicles (EVs) and the retreat of glaciers. [Editor's note: Wrong. What is needed are better technologies, smarter people and a new creative approach to industrial production.]

However, Davos sparked backlash before participants even touched down in Switzerland.

Has Davos turned into a 'private jet shuttle hub'?

Environmental organisation Greenpeace has published a new analysis of private jet flights to and from Davos-area airports over the past three years - before, during, and after the WEF. [Editor's note: Wait a minute here. Green Peace activists fly all the time on civilian passenger jets usually in economy seats and their organization is funded with hundreds of millions of dollars.]

Titled Davos in the Sky, the report found a "sharp rise" in private jet activity, despite overall attendance at the forum remaining broadly stable.

During the week of the 2025 WEF, 709 additional private jet flights were identified at airports near Davos. This roughly works out at almost one private jet flight per four WEF participants. [Editor's note: Don't forget all the thousands of employees and related businesses it requires to keep those private jets flying.]

It marks a 10 per cent increase from 2024, and a threefold rise compared with 2023. In 2024 and 2025, many private jets flew in and out of Davos multiple times during the same week, which Greenpeace argues has turned the event into a "private jet shuttle hub". [Editor's note: So, let's get this straight. All those Green Peace activists who receive dark money don7t drive around in gasoline powered cars?]

The organisation calculates that around 70 per cent of the private jet routes could have been travelled by train within a day, or with a train and connecting train. [Editor's note: Each private jet employs between 10 and 20 people with roughly 22,000 to 25,000 private jets worldwide employing an estimate 1 to 1.5 million people.]

A tax for the super-rich

"It's pure hypocrisy that the world's most powerful and super-rich elite discuss global challenges and progress in Davos, while they literally burn the planet with the emissions of their private jets," says Herwig Schuster of Greenpeace Austria. [Editor's note: Wrong thinking. This same elite have slammed us with carbon emissions, climate change and depopulation. This elite appreciate industry, fine dinning, private aircraft and expensive wine.]

The organisation argues that the time for action is "now" as it calls on governments to curb polluting luxury flights and tax the super-rich "for the damage they cause". [Editor's note: Action? Don't be stupid. You can't change a system you didn't create and bring into existence.]

Greenpeace supports UN Tax Convention (UNFCITC) negotiations towards new global tax rules through 2027 and urges a levy on luxury aviation, including private jets and first and business class flights. [Editor's note: Typical response. No, remove the tax burden on the productive class who make flying possible in the first place.]

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