Time magazine has named Taylor Swift as the 2023 Person of the Year. Swift was named the top celebrity CO2 polluter in 2022, according to the Daily Mail—which also reports she will retain this title in 2023. Swift’s spokesperson has contested the 2022 claim and the response is available here.
Some might wonder, why pick on Taylor Swift. Her professional life necessitates traveling across the world. In 2023, she was also traveling frequently to Kansas for personal reasons. However, a focus on Swift’s carbon footprint is important because celebrities have enormous power to establish social norms. As Time magazine noted: “How many conversations did you have about Taylor Swift this year? How many times did you see a photo of her while scrolling on your phone? Were you one of the people who made a pilgrimage to a city where she played?”
Celebrities should recognize that fame bestows power, and with power, comes responsibility. Arguably, Swift is socially responsible because she does talk about climate change. Newsweek notes, “Swift’s lyrics frequently reference nature, and she has been a public advocate for several environmental causes, including global clean water access and protecting endangered wildlife. She also called climate change one of the “horrific situations” plaguing the world.”
But is Swift demonstrating climate responsibility by walking the climate talk?
Carbon footprint inequity drives climate opposition
While Swift travels in her Dassault Falcon 7x or Dassault Falcon 900, celebrities, politicians, and billionaires zip around in private jets as well. Politicians including Brazil’s President Lula and U.S. Transportation Secretary Buttigieg were in the news for using private jets. The 2021 Idaho’s Sun Valley’s “summer camp for billionaires” attracted several prominent climate supporters such as Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. Its airport, the Friedman Memorial Airport, was so overrun with private jets that “the Federal Aviation Administration wouldn’t let planes from the West Coast to as far as Michigan and Canada take off from their departure points until the traffic eased in what’s known as a ground-delay program.”
Viewed this way, carbon profligate lifestyle is a rich people thing, not an exclusive Taylor Swift phenomenon. This is why economist Thomas Piketty notes that without addressing carbon footprint inequalities between the rich and the poor, climate policies will face a backlash. The reason is that many climate policies require raising energy costs which tend to hurt the poor. Think of “Yellow vests” in France, farmers protesting in the Netherlands against climate regulations, the defeat of two carbon tax referenda in Washington State, and Canada’s recent decision to partially roll back carbon tax. In addition to advocating for a progressive carbon tax, Piketty wants some high-emission uses, such as private jets, to be banned.
Personal carbon footprints
The recent Conference of Parties in Dubai (COP 28) revealed that although the world is on its way to overshoot the 2015 Paris Agreement’s aspirational target to limit temperature increases to 1.5 Celsius in relation to the pre-industrial levels, phasing out fossil fuels remains difficult. The world economy remains highly dependent on hydrocarbons, notwithstanding the progress on electric vehicles and the decarbonization of electricity generation. Although individuals across the world profess high concern for climate issues, they are not giving up carbon-intensive lifestyles. Carbon addiction is particularly severe for the rich an the well-off within and across countries. Air travel is booming, fast fashion is well-established, and meat demand continues to grow. As 2024 approaches, perhaps we need to pay more attention to personal carbon footprints along with advocating for stronger climate policies. This is where celebrities such as Taylor Swift can play a role. Instead of glorifying jet-setting lifestyles, imagine their impact if they were to preach carbon frugality and lead by action.
Drawing an analogy to how her romance with Travis Kelce boosted ratings for NFL football, a recent commentary noted, “We don’t need Taylor Swift to “fall in love with a climate scientist,” we just wish she’d write a song about the climate crisis.” We hope that Swift goes beyond writing a climate anthem: she should adopt and flaunt a carbon-frugal lifestyle. This sort of climate messaging will be particularly appealing to the young generation, Swift’s key constituency, who tends to blame climate problems on the older generation, while not realizing that some of their own consumption habits, or of the celebrities they endorse, support high carbon footprint choices.
The Swift carbon footprint issue could probably inform our New Year resolutions, assuming you are thinking of making one. Here’s our pitch. As a consumer, I will make conscious efforts to reduce my carbon footprint. As a citizen, I will support politicians, sport stars, and entertainment celebrities who practice carbon frugality.
Correction, Dec. 26: An earlier version of this article incorrectly described Taylor Swift’s private-jet travel based on a report from 2022, not 2023.
