While climate change accelerates extreme weather events, global tourism reaches record numbers. Governments and airlines promise safety but avoid setting limits on the sector's emissions. Immediate economic growth is prioritized over sustainability, revealing an uncomfortable contradiction: we want to travel without paying the environmental cost those flights generate.
Progressive tax on frequent flights: the missing fiscal technology 🌍
The technical solution exists: a progressive tax per kilometer flown, increasing with the traveler's frequency. Collection systems and emission tracking are mature, and booking data allows for dynamic pricing. The revenue would fund the protection of vulnerable destinations (such as coasts and glaciers) and the expansion of high-speed electric trains. Nothing new needs to be invented, only the political will to implement what already works in other sectors.
Traveling is a right, paying for CO₂ is a different story ✈️
Of course, because it's only fair that we all pay the same to fly, even if some take 15 flights a year and others none. It would be an attack on individual freedom, they say. Meanwhile, islands are sinking and glaciers are melting, but hey, let no one touch the low-cost gravy train. Perhaps the most sustainable thing is to keep pretending the problem will solve itself, with good intentions and paper straws.