Climate Change Cited As The Reason Heathrow Airport Will Not Expand

Climate change activists have won a fight against the expansion of the UK’s largest airport. Heathrow was on track to becoming the world’s largest and busiest airport in the world. Now it won’t grow because of climate change concerns.

This is the first time the courts have ruled against growing an airport citing the Paris Agreement. The agreement states:

“The Paris Agreement builds upon the Convention and for the first time brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so. As such, it charts a new course in the global climate effort.

The Paris Agreement central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Additionally, the agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change. To reach these ambitious goals, appropriate financial flows, a new technology framework and an enhanced capacity building framework will be put in place, thus supporting action by developing countries and the most vulnerable countries, in line with their own national objectives. The Agreement also provides for enhanced transparency of action and support through a more robust transparency framework.” 

UK’s Transportation Secretary Grant Shapps has said that the “Airport expansion is core to boosting global connectivity.” Although the British government does not plan to appeal the decision, they have the right to do so. Also, the judge has not denied the ability of the airport to expand. The judge only ruled that the expansion in its current plan does not meet the UK’s climate change policy.

John Holland-Kaye is Heathrow’s Chief Executive. John Holland-Kaye said that they “think the appeals court got it wrong.” Stating that the airport has a “very strong legal case.” Holland-Kaye said that Heathrow is willing to work with the British government to show that the airport’s expansion will be compliant with the Paris agreement.

Holland-Kaye: “I’m confident that this issue is fixable, and we can work with the government to get on and deliver the expanded Heathrow that Britain needs. Without Heathrow expansion, there will be no global Britain.”

I have spoken about my views on climate change in previous articles. I believe that climate change is cyclical and that there are human-made environmental disasters (i.e., illegal dumping in water sources). I do not think, however, that the claims that the Earth has twelve years of habitable life left. We will see cases like these continue to pop up around the world. If we continue to let our fear out way our ability to grow, people will suffer.