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Heathrow Expansion Faces Climate Scrutiny as Advisers Warn of Emissions Gap
Confirmed
In Short: Heathrow's third runway expansion faces significant climate hurdles, according to government advisers, who say it cannot proceed without substantial changes to current policies.
Heathrow's expansion plans are under intense scrutiny from the Climate Change Committee (CCC), which has warned that the project cannot be approved without addressing current climate policies.
The CCC, in a clear statement, advised that expansion can only go ahead if the aviation industry funds cleaner fuels and invests in carbon-removal technologies.
Heathrow responded by stating that expansion and climate goals are not mutually exclusive, but the CCC's chair, Nigel Topping, emphasized that Heathrow expansion is currently incompatible with the UK's Net Zero target.
Dr. Lois Pennington of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research argued that the committee's advice does not act as a barrier to expansion, but rather highlights the urgent need to reduce flying.
The government has given the go-ahead for the £33 billion project, which would increase Heathrow's capacity to 150 million passengers a year, but the CCC's advice suggests that this expansion would not align with the UK's climate targets.
The CCC's advice also highlighted the need for the aviation sector to bear the cost of dealing with its emissions, rather than adding it to general taxation.
Despite the warnings, the government has stated that any expansion would need to align with the country's climate targets, and ministers have indicated their intention to proceed with the expansion.
What's confirmed
- Heathrow's expansion plans are under intense scrutiny from the Climate Change Committee (CCC), which has warned that the project cannot be approved without addressing current climate policies.
- The CCC, in a clear statement, advised that expansion can only go ahead if the aviation industry funds cleaner fuels and invests in carbon-removal technologies.
- Heathrow responded by stating that expansion and climate goals are not mutually exclusive, but the CCC's chair, Nigel Topping, emphasized that Heathrow expansion is currently incompatible with the UK's Net Zero target.
- Dr. Lois Pennington of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research argued that the committee's advice does not act as a barrier to expansion, but rather highlights the urgent need to reduce flying.
- The government has given the go-ahead for the £33 billion project, which would increase Heathrow's capacity to 150 million passengers a year, but the CCC's advice suggests that this expansion would not align with the UK's climate targets.
- The CCC's advice also highlighted the need for the aviation sector to bear the cost of dealing with its emissions, rather than adding it to general taxation.
- Despite the warnings, the government has stated that any expansion would need to align with the country's climate targets, and ministers have indicated their intention to proceed with the expansion.
What's still developing
- Heathrow said expansion and climate goals were "not a choice" and it would deliver both.
- The CCC has said carbon-removal machines must be deployed to cut more than a third of the emissions by 2050.
- Protestors against the planned Heathrow expansion demonstrate outside Parliament in early September Some researchers believe the committee's advice does not act as a barrier to Heathrow's expansion and will fail to achieve the reduction in planet-warming gases required.
- Dr Lois Pennington of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research told the BBC that because cleaner fuel and carbon removal were unlikely to arrive at the scale needed, the only reliable way to stay within the UK's carbon limits was to stop the expansion of flying - or even to reduce it.
- "We need to make sure that we are not flying more than we are now," she said.
- It does not approve a runway - that will come in a Commons vote expected later this year.
- Last week, Chancellor John Healey said the Government had “given the go-ahead” to the proposal to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport, which will cost an estimated £33 billion, including £1.5 billion to move the M25, and increase the site’s capacity to 756,000 flights and 150 million passengers.
- And the advisers said almost half of people do not fly abroad in any given a year, while a third of all flights abroad are taken by only 5% of people who take five or more international flights in a year.