Hundreds of super-polluting private jets flew in and out of Scotland while firefighters and locals battled one of the most significant wildfires the country has seen, new analysis from Oxfam Scotland has revealed.
Oxfam Scotland’s analysis of flight records from the Private Jet Tracking Initiative, developed by the Institute for Policy Studies and Inequality.org, found that 1,101 private jet flights arrived in or departed from Scotland between 15 July and 15 August 2026, during the period of the major Cairngorms wildfire.
Together, those flights generated an estimated 7,830 tonnes of CO₂e, with each flight on average producing far more carbon pollution than someone in the poorest half of the UK emits in an entire year.
The findings come as Scottish Ministers prepare to set the rate for Scotland's new private jet tax at the upcoming Scottish Budget.
They are also released on the day that MSPs debate Scotland’s commitment to international climate justice ahead of COP31, the annual UN climate summit. As politicians discuss climate ambition and leadership internationally, they face a simple test of both at home: whether the biggest polluters are asked to contribute more.
Oxfam Scotland is calling on the Scottish Government to set the tax at a minimum of 10 times the existing Higher Rate within Air Passenger Duty, with modelling showing that an even more ambitious tax could raise hundreds of millions of pounds for climate action during the current Parliament.
Scotland's private jets by numbers
- 7,237 private jet flights arrived in or departed from Scotland between January and September 2026.
- Together they generated 44,216 tonnes of CO₂e and in 42 minutes, less time than it takes to watch half of a football match, emitted more carbon pollution than someone in the poorest half of the UK emits in a year.
- Those flights spent more than 16,000 hours in the air combined, equivalent to almost two years of continuous flying.
- They travelled 9.55 million kilometres, enough to circle the Earth 238 times.
- Just 216 (out of 1,246) aircraft accounted for half of all private jet emissions linked to Scotland.
The figures paint a picture of astonishing excess. Many flights lasted less than an hour and many travelled fewer than 500 miles, despite rail alternatives existing for numerous routes. The top destinations and origins for private jet flights were Farnborough, Luton and London.
Katherine May, Head of Oxfam Scotland, said: "While firefighters and Cairngorms communities battled wildfires on the ground, private jets were pumping out white trails of pollution across the skies above them.
"The ultra-wealthy are using private jets like airborne taxis, with Scotland’s skies treated like a private motorway. Meanwhile everyone on the ground is left to deal with the increasing threat of fires, floods and rising bills, which their excess emissions help to drive.
“Ministers should use the Scottish Budget to set Scotland's new private jet tax sky high and send a clear message: private jet passengers shouldn't be able to pollute on the cheap while the rest of us pick up the bill.”
The Scottish findings are published alongside Oxfam's new global report Disaster Divide, released ahead of COP31, which finds that climate breakdown is increasingly being driven by extreme wealth while the consequences fall hardest on those least responsible.
The report warns that while ordinary people face destroyed homes, lost livelihoods and rising living costs as climate disasters become more frequent, the ultra-rich are often able to shield themselves from the worst impacts through private insurance, second homes and access to safer locations.
Globally, Oxfam found that the richest 1 per cent are responsible for 20 per cent of global warming since 1990, generating around 100 times more emissions per person than someone in the poorest half of humanity.
Using climate attribution modelling, Oxfam estimates that just one year of emissions from the world's richest 1 per cent will cause 1.9 million excess heat-related deaths over the next century.
More than three-quarters (78 per cent) of the deaths are expected to occur in low- and lower-middle-income countries, where communities are on the front line of climate impacts despite having contributed least to the crisis and often having the fewest resources to cope with its effects.
The report also finds that a person in the richest 0.1 per cent has contributed nearly 400 times more to today's extreme heatwaves than someone in the poorest half of humanity.
Katherine May, Head of Oxfam Scotland, added: "The climate crisis is often talked about as if we're all in the same boat but from Scotland to Sub-Saharan Africa, people are not experiencing it equally. The people who have done least to cause the climate emergency are losing homes, livelihoods and lives to floods, droughts, heatwaves and wildfires, while others can retreat to second homes, hire private firefighters, or simply buy their way out of danger.
"The climate crisis is an inequality crisis and that's why climate justice means making the biggest polluters pay. Whether it's private jets or oil and gas giants, those profiting from pollution should contribute far more to tackling the damage it causes."
Ahead of tomorrow's UK Budget, Oxfam Scotland is calling on the Prime Minister to ensure that those driving the climate crisis contribute more to fixing it, including through a permanent excess profits tax on oil and gas companies, stronger support for climate adaptation, and a just transition that tackles inequality while cutting emissions.
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For more information and interviews, please contact: Rebecca Lozza, Media and Communications Adviser, Oxfam Scotland: rlozza1@oxfam.org.uk / 07917 738450.
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