Ban Private Jets

Private jets and frequent flying are the pinnacle of climate injustice. Make Them Pay is an international campaign that brings together citizens and scientists to end the climate-wrecking activities caused by the excesses of private aviation. It includes members of Extinction Rebellion, Scientist Rebellion and Stay Grounded.

Private jets are 5 to 14 times more polluting per passenger than commercial flights, and 50 times more polluting than train. A 4-hour private flight emits as much CO2 as the average european in a year.

Denmark is failing to transition to sustainable food production systems. Agriculture and especially livestock farming is responsible for almost 27% of Danish greenhouse gas emissions, and 95% of its nitrate emissions. Feasible transition scenarios to fulfill Denmark’s international commitments involve our government immediately downscaling intensive animal farming and abandoning their over-reliance on techno-fixes to instead focus on sustainable long-term solutions.

On April 28th, 2023, we joined a city-wide protest in Copenhagen, demanding that Denmark keep its promises of having 30% of its territory as protected natural areas, stop new loans for industrial animal agriculture and finally ban pesticides. The event was named “Befri Jorden” (“Liberate the Earth”) and included direct action by citizens from all over Denmark. It was organized by civil society organizations including Extinct Rebellion, Scientist Rebellion, Greenpeace, Landsforeningen mod Svinefabrikker, Global Aktion and many others.

The carbon footprint of Danske Bank’s is approximately equal to that of the entire domestic emissions of Denmark. Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, the bank has financed the fossil fuel industry with DKK 100 billion. As of November 2022, Danske Bank had DKK 8.4 billion invested in companies looking for new oil & gas. Its climate action plan issued on January 2023, pretends to be finally willing to align with the Paris Agreement. However, the new plan allows them to keep investing in any oil & gas company, and they will keep financing those involved in transporting, storing, refining or marketing for oil & gas. The bank will also keep financing “green projects” of dirty companies, which frees up money for their climate-damaging activities. This type of loan is recognized as a loophole by the European Investment Bank, which therefore stopped this type of lending in 2021. This isn’t climate action, this can’t even be called climate inaction. This is active and criminal participation in a crisis that is destroying ecosystems, and destroying communities around the world. Danske Bank’s plan is pure greenwashing.

The Danish government sells itself as being a “climate government” while at the same time expanding fossil infrastructure: creating new gas pipelines, continuing extraction of oil in the North Sea for the next 20 years, and advancing a massive highway expansion project throughout the country. They have also defunded their own Climate Council, demonstrating they have little interest in fulfilling their obligations under the 2020 Climate Law, let alone taking meaningful climate action. Thus, they are lying to the Danish public. Despite decades of scientific warnings, we remain on track for an unlivable world. In this campaign, we demand honesty about the Danish government’s failure to protect us from the worst consequences of climate breakdown, and take emergency action on climate.