We have Flight Pride when we should have Flight Shame

Here’s a new word for you for 2020: Flygskam.  It’s a Swedish word meaning “shame of flying” and the initiative behind the word led to a reduction in air travel in Sweden last year of around 5% (pronounced fleeg-skaam).

International Arbitration suffers from “Flight Pride” when we should be hanging our heads in “Flight Shame”. In international arbitration flying is a badge of honour.  Back in 2007, when The American Lawyer published an interview with three well known Houston arbitrators, the arbitrators joked that they were more likely to meet in London than in downtown Houston. The article enthused: “Houston arbitration stars find themselves on airplanes weekly, not only to Latin America, but also to Washington, D.C., the new hub of treaty arbitration, and to Europe, where the purely commercial contract-based arbitrations still tend to be heard”. That was back in 2007.  I suspect it is even worse now. 

One flight from the West to the East coast across the U.S. produces at least 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide. If all climate-change causing emissions are included, one flight from the United States to Asia or from Asia to Europe can produce as much as 5 metric tons of carbon equivalent emissions. To put that in perspective, 5 metric tons is the average amount of carbon dioxide produced by every human each year.  When the Green Pledge team analysed the emissions of a standard international arbitration, they found that 93% of the emissions was caused by aeroplane travel, particularly business class travel. Depending on the size of the area for each seat, business class is usually between two or three times as energy intensive as economy class.

Flying really does matter. If there is one change you can make in your international arbitration practice this year, it is to reduce the number of times you fly.  In fact, to replace the Flight Pride badge of honour I will be handing out Flygskam lapel pins to every arbitration practitioner I meet in 2020 who tells me they have taken a conscious decision not to fly. I fully anticipate this will become the must have arbitration accessory of 2020.

The badges are Concorde badges to reflect the fact that supersonic flights burn five to seven times more fuel per passenger seat than regular jets.  Although supersonic flights  haven’t been available since Concorde stopped flying, there are several startups currently working to reintroduce them.

Go on, be the first to have a Flygskam Arbitration badge.