The problem with Heathrow expansion

Heathrow is already one of the biggest single sources of greenhouse gases in the UK, and yet government, big business and Heathrow plan to increase its contribution to climate breakdown by building a third runway.

We all know we are in a climate emergency. Expanding Heathrow would lock us in to a long-lived high carbon infrastructure, threatening the urgent action we need to tackle climate breakdown. It would signify misery for the surrounding area: local people already endure bad air pollution, and the noise and disruption of approximately 1,300 planes taking off at Heathrow daily. Expansion will mean around 700 more flights per day, and many people would even lose their homes if it’s built.

And that’s not all. Expansion would also all but blow our chances of meeting our targets for cutting emissions, designed to avert the worst impacts of climate change and hold global temperatures to the levels agreed by world leaders in the Paris Agreement.

The addition of a third runway is hailed as being economically beneficial to the UK, but the benefit is dubious at best, and has been contested by the New Economics Foundation. Are we as a society OK with communities suffering for corporate enrichment and frequent flyer convenience? Climate breakdown (and the Heathrow expansion) will harm entirely innocent people at home and abroad, whether they fly or not.

Who's responsible?

It’s a problematic minority of the population who are disproportionately adding to the dangerous climate problem all of us have to face. According to analysis by the New Economics Foundation, “frequent flyers”, or those who take three or more flights a year, are responsible for 63% of the new passenger traffic seen over the past two decades. Digging deeper, among this group are the “ultra-frequent” flyers, who take six or more return trips a year. These are the biggest drivers of the UK’s growth in passenger numbers. They make up less than 3% of the population but take up 30% of all journeys by UK residents.

Unfortunately for us, instead of addressing this unfairness, the Department for Transport is happy for it to continue, and even increase the damage caused with a new third runway at Heathrow.

Who's fighting Heathrow?

There are many community organisations who have been battling the Heathrow monster over a considerable number of years, including our amazing West London Groups Network, who oppose expansion due to the clear and unacceptable impacts on the environment and their wellbeing.

Our approach to legal interventions has been to lend support to those efforts and strengthen community voices at critical points. We’ve represented Heathrow campaign groups to knock back injunctions that stifled protest, and we previously have fought expansion of a third runway on the grounds that it will contribute further to climate breakdown. This expansion would contradict the needs of future generations for a safer climate by selfishly pursuing development that harms our planet. So whenever expansion rears its ugly head, our lawyers will be close at hand to see there are good grounds to bring a challenge.

Environmental justice

We understand environmental justice (or ”climate justice” in this context) to mean socially fair and inclusive answers to the environmental problems we face, both at home and abroad. Friends of the Earth has an ambitious goal of ensuring that the next generation enjoys an environment that is getting better, and so environmental justice in the Heathrow context means ensuring that any development does not impinge on the rights of future generations to a safer climate. This is important because to attain environmental justice we need a balanced and fair approach to climate change that does not "kick the can down the road" and force others to deal with harsher impacts in the future.

Why should this matter to you? Well, not to put too fine a point on it, it’ll be your children and grandchildren, or those of your friends, who pick up the tab and bear the greatest brunt of future climate impacts.

What's next?

Emissions from aviation are getting worse, having doubled since 1990, and it’s unlikely that flying will ever be green, or at least not for many decades. This is because the technologies for doing this are currently just speculative at the scale needed. So, the best and only realistic option right now is to reduce flying. This requires more ambitious emissions cuts, better alternatives to air travel and an end to airport expansion. The government therefore needs to rule out the third runway at Heathrow, introduce a frequent flyer levy and focus on delivering a bold and fair climate plan that will transform both our present reality and our long-term future. 

Friends of the Earth’s lawyers will look very closely at any decisions which appear to put the UK’s legally binding climate targets in doubt. We have a strong track record of defending the climate in court and we won’t hesitate to do so again.