We shouldn’t assume that more runways, more flights, and more emissions will mean more prosperity. You may remember the promises the Labour Party made on the run-up to last year’s election about its commitment to becoming the greenest government ever.
Now that seems like a hollow promise when seen through the prism of the Labour Government’s unequivocal support for aviation expansion.
Its controversial approval of expansion for both Gatwick and Heathrow alone could result in an extra 100,000 and 276,000 flights respectively!
It is therefore all the more confusing that Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, told Parliament in October this year that Heathrow’s expansion plans must align with the UK’s environmental and climate commitments.
What does this mean for climate change and the environment?
Successive governments’ willingness to tip the scales in favour of an ‘anything goes’ approach to airport expansion needs some serious explanation – especially when seen through the prism of its impact on our Net Zero legal obligations. More about this a little later.
With aviation effectively getting a free pass over expansion, I was reminded of the recommendations that the Climate Change Committee (CCC) made to the then Conservative Government in December 2020. They stated that there should be no net increase in airport capacity if emissions from flying are to be cut to Net Zero by 2050.
The CCC, as far as I can see, remains silent about the way current government policy flagrantly disregards this expert advice. I contacted CCC with these concerns but had received no reply at the time of publication!
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Returning to the enthusiasm this government has for aviation expansion, their position is hiding in plain sight; the Aviation Minister, when giving evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) earlier this year, claimed that this expansion would lead to growth. This was despite any supporting evidence to back up this claim!
It is fair to say that the EAC was underwhelmed by this explanation, especially when leading experts such as Dr Alex Chapman, a senior researcher at the New Economics Foundation who gave evidence to the Committee, challenge this government narrative. The conventional wisdom is that the demand for business travel is collapsing and that the demand to fly tourists out of this country continues to exceed those flying in.
The EAC was unequivocal in stating that the inevitable increase in the UK’s international aviation emissions would jeopardise its 2050 Net Zero Target!The aviation sector already receives favourable tax breaks in the UK; it doesn’t pay fuel duty or VAT. The narrative that airport expansion is good for the economic health of the UK simply isn’t backed up by evidence.
What we have here is a policy which is likely to create yet more misery for those unfortunate enough to live under these airport flight paths, while systematically undermining our Net Zero climate obligations.
The dichotomy couldn’t be clearer: a government committed to a green agenda, bound to a discredited and environmentally unsustainable policy of expansion at many of the UK’s airports.
The only true winners appear to be airports themselves and their ever-active lobbyists!
More on environment.
