The Court of Appeal is set to make a ruling over Heathrow’s expansion in a case described by green
groups as massively significant.
Judges will decide whether Heathrow’s expansion plans took into account climate change commitments.
If the court rules against the environmentalists, it is likely Heathrow’s third runway will be built.
If it rules against the government, ministers could re-start the appraisal process.
This would involve making the highly contentious case that expansion is compatible with combating
climate change.
Or the prime minister could also accept a negative verdict and allow the court to take the blame for
scuppering the expansion proposal that he has long opposed.
The case has been brought by local residents, councils, the mayor of London, and environmental groups
including Greenpeace.
The government’s climate change committee advised that expanding Heathrow is not compatible with a
climate neutral economy.
But the former transport secretary Chris Grayling gave the go-ahead to a third runway there in April 2018.
Boris Johnson missed the Commons vote on the scheme. He was in Afghanistan in his role as foreign
secretary.
Green groups argue that before the decision was made, Mr Grayling should have taken into account the
Paris deal on climate change, which pledged to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees if possible.
At the time, he said: “The step that [the] government is taking today is truly momentous. I am proud that
after years of discussion and delay, this government is taking decisive action to secure the UK’s place in the
global aviation market – securing jobs and business opportunities for the next decade and beyond.”
Government advisers warned him that expanding aviation would increase emissions when they should be
going down.
And since then parliament has agreed to a climate neutral economy by 2050 – substantially more
challenging than the 80% emissions reduction target in force when Mr Grayling made his decision.
The green groups don’t believe an expanded Heathrow will be able to meet the net zero target, even with
the advent of new technologies.
They also think the government’s calculations over Heathrow understate the overall damage aviation does
to the climate.
If they win the case, the implications for other government policies in the UK and elsewhere are potentially
huge.
Tim Crosland from the pressure group Plan B, one of the organisations which brought the court action, told
BBC News: “This would be massively significant – it would mean that in the UK at least carbon-intensive
investment shouldn’t happen any more.
“Other nations will be looking at this verdict and taking note [of] what it means to commit to net zero
carbon emissions.”
