This is Donald Trump’s Carbon Footprint
At the most fundamental level, resource consumption drives carbon emissions – and it should come as no surprise that the wealthy tend to have a larger-than-average carbon footprint. A 2023 report authored by researchers at the Paris School of Economics found that the wealthiest 10% of the world’s population accounts for nearly half of all greenhouse gas emissions globally.
With a net worth of $3.1 billion, as estimated by Bloomberg in November 2023, Donald Trump is one of fewer than 800 billionaires in the United States. Like others in his 10-figure cohort, Trump’s personal contribution to global emissions exceeds that of an ordinary American by orders of magnitude.
According to The Nature Conservancy, a non-profit environmental group, the average American creates about 16 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year. These emissions, known as a carbon footprint, are generated by everyday necessities like travel, dining, shopping, doing laundry, or running a furnace or air conditioner.
In at least one way, Trump’s lifestyle closely resembles that of many Americans in a much lower income bracket. When the former president doesn’t skip the first two meals of the day, breakfast often consists of eggs and bacon. A meatloaf sandwich, meanwhile, is reportedly a lunch-time favorite.
As disclosed in a book by Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, two Big Macs and two Fillet-o-Fish sandwiches are Trump’s preferred dinner order at McDonald’s. While Trump abstains from alcohol, coffee, and tea, he does consume a dozen Diet Cokes daily, according to the New York Times.
This diet, if followed every day for a year, would create about 3.6 tons of carbon emissions – well within the range of an average American adult. Apart from food, however, most aspects of Trump’s life are far from normal.
The typical American home is about 2,000 square feet. Trump owns at least three homes, and all of them are at least five times that size. These include an 11,000 square foot penthouse in Trump Tower, a 50,000 square foot home about 40 miles north of Midtown Manhattan, and Mar-a-Lago, a 62,500 square foot members-only club in West Palm Beach, Florida that also serves as his primary residence.
According to a 2020 study published by the National Academy of Sciences, homes in New York state emit an average of 47 kilograms of carbon dioxide per square meter annually. In Florida, average annual carbon emissions are 45 kilograms per square meter. Based on these figures, Trump’s residential properties alone generate an estimated 580 tons of greenhouse gasses every year, over 36 times the typical American’s total carbon footprint.
While Trump’s homes have an outsized environmental impact, their carbon output pales in comparison to that of his private jet, a Boeing 757 dubbed Trump Force One. Last month, Trump’s private jet shuttled him to campaign events, the Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primary, and court appearances in New York City – often returning back to Palm Beach International Airport, located only a few miles from Mar-a-Lago.
An airliner designed for commercial use, a 757 is much larger than many purpose-built private jets, and it reportedly consumes 17 gallons of jet fuel every minute. According to publicly available flight tracking data, Trump Force One flew nearly 5,300 miles in the first half of January 2024 alone. A similar itinerary, over the course of a year, would use approximately 344,000 gallons of jet fuel, creating nearly 3,700 tons of carbon emissions.
Of course, there is no way to know Trump’s total carbon footprint with any degree of precision, especially when accounting for The Trump Organization’s business ventures and Trump’s personal investments, which were not considered in this analysis. But, between his diet, his homes, and his private jet alone – assuming minimal ground transportation to and from airports – it likely exceeds 4,285 tons annually at a minimum, more than an ordinary American would generate in three and a half lifetimes.
