Increasing private jet sustainability laws and reporting requirements globally mean a more complex environment for UHNWs and companies.
The change in the U.S. political climate is not sidetracking private jet sustainability initiatives or affecting the need for high-profile private jet users to stay focused on the issue.
In a wide-ranging interview, 4Air founder and CEO Kennedy Ricci discussed why the changing winds in Washington, D.C., are not affecting the business aviation segment’s leadership in reducing emissions.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced rollbacks for auto fuel emissions standards.
President Donald J. Trump said at the time, “We’re officially terminating Joe Biden’s ridiculously burdensome, horrible, actually, CAFE standards that impose expensive restrictions.”
However, the global nature of private jet activity means private aviation suppliers from OEMs to MROs and end users are still highly focused on sustainability, Ricci tells Private Jet Card Comparisons.
Ricci notes, “A lot of our industry is international.”
He continues, “Even if you’re based in the U.S. and, if you’re flying overseas, Europe’s obviously a big destination point, (sustainability regulations) matters to you as a U.S. operator.”
Ricci notes, “We’ve seen the rest of the world continue to march ahead.”
Beyond Europe, there are more than a dozen mandates for sustainable aviation fuel.
The United Arab Emirates is the most recent country to introduce a SAF mandate.
Other mandates come from China, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Turkey, Australia, Brazil, “pretty broadly across the world.”
Even in the U.S., Ricci says, despite the rhetoric in Washington D.C., “what we’ve really seen is things went back to the state level. So we already have a mix of federal and state incentives.”
The net effect for private jet operators, both commercial and private, is that compliance has become more intensive.
“It’s kind of increased the complexity of what you have to look at,” he says.
For example, California’s latest disclosure requirements apply to companies with over $500 million in revenue that do business in the state.
While 4Air launched in 2020, focused on helping source carbon credits, the web of regulations and incentives means “how do we support (customers)…knowing the requirements (and complying).”
Ricci says that failing to take the measures seriously, comply, and report can be costly.
“If you don’t, you get an angry letter at the end of the year that says, ‘Hey, you didn’t comply, and here’s what you owe, plus 100% penalty.'”
4Air also helps identify and obtain incentives to use SAF and reward decarbonization efforts.
Over the past five years, Ricci says the percentage of large companies disclosing their emissions has increased.
The 2025 State of Corporate Sustainability Disclosure Report, published by the UCLA Anderson Center for Impact, reports a “notable uptick” in emissions and climate risk reporting.
The UCLA Report adds:
‘Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG-emission-disclosure rates remain high at over 88% for S&P 500 companies, while Scope 3 disclosures have improved to 69.5%. Net-zero and carbon-neutrality commitments are becoming increasingly common, with almost 57% of S&P 500 companies having announced such goals. Companies are also beginning to lay important groundwork for climate transition planning: 24.4% of firms have publicly disclosed a transition plan outlining their intended pathways toward decarbonization.’
Ricci says, “A lot of our work of 4Air has actually been building reports for our customers’ customers of what their emissions were? How much did they fly? How much fuel did they consume? What was their carbon impact?”
While 4Air does work directly with UHNWs in some cases, it primarily serves end users through their aircraft management companies, corporate flight departments, and charter and fractional operators.
While anti-private jet groups have called into question the industry’s sustainability initiatives from SAF to carbon credits and eVTOLs as being a mix of greenwashing and pie in the sky, Ricci takes a more measured view.
He points to 4Air’s work identifying and reducing non-carbon emissions, which can have twice the warming effect as carbon emissions.
4Air has been leading several studies about how future flight planning can reduce those contrails.
Those studies will first be proven out using private aviation, he says.
In fact, Ricci notes that business aviation is the incubator for fuel-saving and emissions-reducing technology that is later applied to wider air travel.
Think of those winglets – they were born in private aviation.
Ricci says it will be the same story with both SAF and eVTOLs.
While acknowledging questions about the validity of some carbon offset programs, he sees the criticism as an opportunity to put projects under a microscope and better communicate how and over what period they deliver the desired impact.
Ricci says, “We are taking those higher integrity kind of diligence processes into mind.
We’re very thoughtful about the project types that we’re working with.”
He adds that in the area of future fuel, the industry is investing in everything from new SAF sources to alternatives such as hydrogen.
While aviation, private aviation, and even the broader travel industry are often the target of climate campaigners, Ricci says, “The atmosphere doesn’t care that it came from aviation or that it came from shipping or that it came from forestry. We need to identify reductions and align the types of incentives and willingness to pay with the actual solutions.”
Studies show aviation accounts for about 2% of all global carbon emissions.
Private jets are just 2% of that 2%.
Thinking about groups that are focused on banning private jets, Ricci says, “I’d want to communicate that our desire to decarbonize is genuine.”
Ricci adds, “We want to find good solutions that are meaningful and impactful. We want to make sure we’re thoughtful about the types of programs we’re working on. We want truly sustainable innovations. So the interest we have is genuine.”
To those groups, he says, “If there are ways that you can help us make sure that what we’re doing is actually driving impact, then we’re all for that.”
What’s more, private jet flight providers will also have to consider the next wave of new customers.
According to recent research among Private Jet Card Comparisons subscribers, 42.3% of respondents who are not flying privately yet but are considering it say sustainability programs will be important in choosing a flight provider.
That compares to 28.4% of all respondents.
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