Ministers urged to set ‘unapologetically high’ private jet tax after Cop summit

Increased use of private jets around the Cop31 climate summit should inspire Holyrood ministers to set an “unapologetically high” tax on such flights, campaigners have insisted.

Oxfam Scotland made the plea as analysis by the charity revealed that 87 private jets have landed an Antalya Airport in Turkey since Saturday November 7, ahead of the United Nations summit getting under way on Monday November 9.

These flights will have emitted an estimated 777 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, Oxfam added.

Setting a the upcoming private jet tax at a high level would “send a clear message” that “climate leadership does not stop at speeches and summits”, the charity said.

Katherine May, the head of Oxfam Scotland, insisted: “The spectacle of fleets of super-polluting private jets flying to a climate summit perfectly captures the grotesque gap between rhetoric and reality.”

With Scottish ministers already having pledged to charge a new private jet tax on flights leaving Scotland, Ms May said seeing private jets “stream in” to the Cop summit should make Holyrood ministers “return home determined to make a stand against this extraordinary excess”.

Deputy Finance Minister Jenny Gilruth is expected to announce the level of the new levy of private jet flights when she reveals the Scottish Budget on December 3 – with the charge due to come into force from April 2028.

Private jets are said to be one of the most carbon-intensive ways to travel, with Oxfam noting about 250,000 people take such flights – equivalent to just 0.003% of the world’s population.

Ms May said: “Scottish ministers have rightly spent Cop championing support for communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis, where people are already losing lives, homes and livelihoods to worsening floods, extreme heat and water and food insecurity.

“But after watching other delegates’ private jets stream in, they should return home determined to make a stand against this extraordinary excess.

“By setting Scotland’s private jet tax unapologetically high in the Scottish Budget, ministers can send a clear message that they will make polluters pay and that climate leadership does not stop at speeches and summits.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government is introducing a private jet tax from April 2028 to ensure those who choose to use private jets pay their fair share.

“Air departure tax rates – including those for private jets – will be set out at the Scottish Budget on December 3 2026.”