Super Bowl's environmental impact: A look at private jet emissions

Activists are highlighting the environmental concerns surrounding the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, focusing on the influx of private jets and their significant carbon emissions.

Gerald Narciso reports for The New York Times.


In short:

  • The Super Bowl in Las Vegas is expected to attract around 1,000 private planes, raising concerns about increased greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Benjamin Leffel, a sustainability expert, notes that events like this can double the city's daily emissions due to air traffic and energy use.
  • The issue of private jet emissions is part of a broader environmental challenge, with Las Vegas already grappling with energy, heat, and drought problems.

Key quote:

"The emissions levels of a mega-event like this from air traffic, and the energy use is at least double in a day than it would be on average."

— Benjamin Leffel, assistant professor of public policy sustainability, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Why this matters:

The Super Bowl's environmental impact is a reminder of how major events can significantly contribute to carbon emissions, affecting not just local environments but also global climate patterns. This topic is crucial for understanding the broader implications of our choices and events on the planet's health.

To fly or not to fly? The climate question

A hospital worker in a cafeteria kitchen

Morrison Healthcare recognized as one of modern healthcare’s Best in Business Winners for sustainability

Morrison Healthcare has been named a Modern Healthcare Best in Business winner for sustainability, recognizing its plant-forward culinary strategy and efforts to cut carbon emissions across hospital food systems.

brown concrete building under blue sky during daytime

Climate change and health

Climate change, combined with other natural and human-made stressors, is intensifying existing health threats and creating new ones, with impacts varying by age, income, and location.

A row of data center cooling towers connected to a building with pipes
Credit: octofocus/Big Stock Photo

The AI boom will increase US carbon emissions—but it doesn’t have to

A new analysis finds that data centers’ energy demands will drastically increase power plant emissions over the next decade. Renewables, though, could cut them while helping keep prices from rising.
A factory or power plant with smokestacks emitting pollution
Credit: Faux Toe/Big Stock Photo

Half of world’s CO2 emissions come from just 32 fossil fuel firms, study shows

Critics accuse leading firms of sabotaging climate action but say data increasingly being used to hold them to account.

The interior of the New Mexico capitol building

Six years on, New Mexico still hasn’t codified governor’s climate goals

As the legislative session opens, lawmakers again will weigh a pledge to reduce emissions. Last year, two Democrats joined the GOP to sink it.
Mural on commercial building in downtown Asheville, North Carolina
Photo credit: Photo by PJ Frederick on Unsplash

After Helene, rural North Carolina turns to solar and battery hubs

More than a year after the storm’s devastation, clean-energy microgrids are springing up in remote areas thanks to a program that could become a national model.

Aerial view of a big column of smoke from forest fire in southern Chile
Photo credit: Copyright: Tifonimages/ Big Stock Photo ID: 470332097

Patagonia is burning

Heat, drought, and high winds exacerbated deadly blazes in Chile this weekend and stoked fires that continue to smolder in Argentina.
From our Newsroom
Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

One facility has emitted cancer-causing chemicals into waterways at levels up to 520% higher than legal limits.

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

"The reality is, we are not exposed to one chemical at a time.”

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro speaks with the state flag and American flag behind him.

Two years into his term, has Gov. Shapiro kept his promises to regulate Pennsylvania’s fracking industry?

A new report assesses the administration’s progress and makes new recommendations

silhouette of people holding hands by a lake at sunset

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.