The Global Solidarity Levies Task Force is urging Scottish Ministers to join an expanding international initiative to make the wealthiest flyers pay for their excessive emissions.
The Coalition for Solidarity Levies for Premium Flyers, supported by the Taskforce and led by countries including France, Kenya and Spain, brings together 13 countries committed to introducing levies on private jets, as well as higher rates for first- and business-class flights. They estimate even a conservative levy on premium flyers could raise approximately US$34bn a year to invest in climate action if implemented globally.
Premium flyers create a hugely disproportionate share of aviation pollution. The Coalition estimates the richest 1% of travellers produce about half of all commercial aviation emissions, and a single hour in a private jet emits more CO₂ than the average person does in a year. With aviation emissions set to triple by 2050, the Task Force says levies on premium flyers must be the first step in a wider package of ‘solidarity levies’ to raise vital funding for climate action and global development.
Professor Laurence Tubiana, COP30 Special Envoy to Europe and co-lead of the Secretariat for the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force, which supports the Coalition, said: “At COP30, a leading group of countries have reached a historic milestone: declaring that the world’s richest and most polluting travellers should no longer fly untaxed while communities below face fire, floods, and food shortages. New levies on premium flyers could unlock serious funds for climate action and development – and the time to act is now.
“Any government, national or subnational, that supports the polluter-pays principle, like the Scottish Government, should want – and is very welcome – to join the coalition and turn words into action through concrete measures such as taxing high-polluting premium class flights and private jets.”
The Coalition, which has launched a new report at COP30, is urging other governments to join the initiative before the talks end in Belém, Brazil, later this week. Oxfam Scotland says the Scottish Government should seize this opportunity to show climate leadership.
Scotland already plays a prominent international role, leading Regions4, a global network of regional governments working together on climate and biodiversity and serving as a European co-chair of the Under2 Coalition, a worldwide group of states and regions committed to cutting emissions. Oxfam Scotland says that, given these positions, Scotland has a responsibility to set the pace by backing fair measures that target the worst polluters, starting with those who use private jets.
Campaigners say that as well as joining the coalition, the Scottish Government should expedite preparations for a Scottish private jet tax to make passengers who pump out pointless pollution pay. The First Minister says he’s ‘very sympathetic’ to the measure, but campaigners say that progress towards its implementation is far too slow.
Jamie Livingstone, Head of Oxfam Scotland, said: “The Scottish Government says it supports the principle that polluters should pay for their damage, but those leading this global initiative are clear that it’s time to turn words into action. The climate crisis is driven by the super-rich’s excessive emissions and Scotland cannot stand on the sidelines. The Cabinet Secretary said at COP that injustice is at the heart of the climate crisis: she must now turn up her climate courage by joining the group of countries who have already pledged to penalise premium flyers. She must then accelerate work to swiftly implement a domestic private jet tax, punishing the pockets of the ultra-wealthy and sending a clear message that their egregious climate excess will no longer get off virtually scot-free.”
Oxfam Scotland is campaigning for a Private Jet Tax at both UK and Scotland-levels set at least 10-times the existing Higher rate within the UK Air Passenger Duty.
In Scotland, the Committee on Climate Change says aviation emissions accounted for 4% of the country’s emissions in 2022 and the sector’s emissions are up 20% since 1990.
Yet the Scottish Government’s draft Climate Change Plan 2026-40 is silent on reducing demand for aviation. While it says that the Government remains committed to the introduction of Air Departure Tax (ADT) as a devolved replacement for the UK-wide Air Passenger Duty – there is no explicit commitment to embedding a private jet tax.
Campaigners say the Scottish Government should immediately get on with the preparatory work for ADT, including designing a fair new exemption for passengers from the Highlands and Islands, without letting private jet passengers off the hook. While this exemption must be legally compliant with UK-level subsidy control legislation, the responsibility to develop it and then implement ADT rests entirely with the Scottish Government.
While Scottish Minister should accelerate preparations now, pre-election, Oxfam Scotland says all parties should use their manifestos for the Scottish election to commit to implementing the new tax quickly in the new Scottish Parliament.
Oxfam Scotland’s latest call follows the charity’s recent revelation that over 8,000 private flights took off or landed at Scottish airports in the first eight months of 2025 alone. Illustrative modelling suggests that if Oxfam Scotland’s proposed private jet tax been in place, it would have raised up to around £20 million more to invest in green projects.
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For more information and interviews, please contact: Rebecca Lozza, Media and Communications Adviser, Oxfam Scotland: rlozza1@oxfam.org.uk / 07917738450
Notes to Editors
- Find out more about the Premium Flyers Solidarity Coalition here and read its latest report, The Untapped Potential of Solidarity Levies.
- Last month, Oxfam Scotland released data showing there was 8,162 recorded private jet flights taking off or landing at Scottish airports in the first eight months of 2025. The data was released alongside Oxfam’s global report, "Climate Plunder: How a powerful few are locking the world into disaster", which includes new data showing that a person from the richest 0.1% produces more carbon pollution in a day than the poorest 50% emit all year. Read: https://scotland.oxfam.org.uk/latest-news/carbon-inequality-exposed-scotland-must-act/
