Ryanair calls on the Swedish Government to stop greenwashing in a new environmental tax programme

Ryanair calls on the Swedish Government to immediately stop greenwashing in a new environmental tax program for Stockholm Arlanda and Gothenburg Landvetter airports: environmental charges should reward airlines with low CO2 emissions, not reward those who fly with empty seats.

Ryanair has today called on the Swedish government to immediately abolish Swedavia’s inefficient and backwards-looking environmental tax system, which in a completely backward way rewards airlines, based on the number of seats, empty or not, rather than on the actual CO2 emissions based on the passengers actually on board. The latter is also the standard measure of environmental efficiency used in the EU’s emissions trading system.

Instead of rewarding environmental efficiency that arises with a high cabin factor, Swedavias makes it advantageous for airlines with half-empty planes. These produce high CO2 emissions per passenger, but the companies get away with a lower tax rate than those that are twice as environmentally efficient. This is a clear example of greenwashing and the Swedish government must immediately intervene and change the regulations.

The standard measure used in the EU’s emissions system is based on CO2 emissions per actual passenger, not as Swedavia calculates it according to the number of available seats, regardless of how few passengers are to share the emissions actually made. Swedavia’s system rewards and protects airlines that have older aircraft and a lower number of passengers and thus have the worst emissions. The important thing is that as many travellers as possible reach their destinations, leaving as little emissions as possible.

Ryanair is Europe’s largest, greenest and cleanest airline, which flies regularly from both Arlanda and Landvetter and recently introduced its “Net-Zero decarbonisation strategy” which will lead to Ryanair becoming carbon neutral by 2050. It includes investments of $22 billion in greener aircraft technology. But this also includes an ambitious goal that 12.5 percent of Ryanair’s flights will take place with sustainable fuel by 2030. These are two ambitious milestones in environmental efficiency, which are still completely neglected in Swedavia’s irrational environmental tax system.

Ryanair’s sustainability director Thomas Fowler, comments:

“We are extremely disappointed with Swedavia’s introduction of this deficient environmental tax on Arlanda and Landvetter and call on the Swedish government to redo and do the right thing, with an effective tax system that actually rewards airlines that work and invest in significantly reduced real emissions.

“Full aircraft are more environmentally efficient than planes that fly empty, yet Swedavia completely ignores this simple fact. Applying a higher tax rate to a full aircraft than an empty one, just because it has room for more, is completely counterproductive. If Swedavia really cares about the environment, it must first and foremost reward airlines that have young, modern aircraft and a full cabin. We demand government intervention to prevent this greenwashing, as it is unacceptable for older aircraft flying half-empty to continue to be protected with increasing emissions as a result.

“Environmental efficiency and any associated taxes, must be based on the actual CO2 emissions per passenger, which is the standard measure the EU has already chosen. Sweden wants to be synonymous with sustainability and then its largest airport operator, Swedavia, must be stopped from being fooled by obvious greenwashing.”