U.K.’s Top Court Lifts Ban On Heathrow’s Plans For 3rd Runway

Enlarge this image

A jetliner arrives at London’s Heathrow Airport earlier this year. On Wednesday, the U.K.’s highest court reversed a ban on the airport’s controversial plans for a third runway.

Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images

hide caption

toggle caption

Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images

Europe
Read About The Appellate Court Ruling

Environment
Choosing Not To Fly Home For The Holidays, For The Climate’s Sake

«On the contrary, the Secretary of State took the Paris Agreement into account and … he gave weight to it and ensured that those obligations would be brought into account in decisions to be taken under the framework established by the ANPS.

The ruling represents a stinging reversal for climate activists, who had celebrated the February decision as a «hugely influential landmark. Plan B, the climate-centric legal charity that helped bring the original legal challenge to the runway, protested that Wednesday’s ruling «has betrayed us all.

«The pandemic has reminded us of our subjection to natural laws, Plan B Director Tim Crosland said in a statement, which he posted one day before the official release of the ruling, breaking a news embargo in order to protest its «deep immorality. «The Paris Temperature Limit is all that divides us from a grim future of crisis upon crisis.

Enlarge this image

A demonstrator raises a sign protesting plans for a third runway in London, the same day that the British Supreme Court reopened the door to the runway. The runway had previously been blocked on environmental grounds.

Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images

hide caption

toggle caption

Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images

A demonstrator raises a sign protesting plans for a third runway in London, the same day that the British Supreme Court reopened the door to the runway. The runway had previously been blocked on environmental grounds.

Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images

Meanwhile on Wednesday, the company behind Heathrow lauded the judgment as «the right result for the country.

«Only by expanding the UK’s hub airport can we connect all of Britain to all of the growing markets of the world, helping to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in every nation and region of our country, a Heathrow spokesperson said in a statement.

«Heathrow has already committed to net zero, the spokesperson added, «and this ruling recognises the robust planning process that will require us to prove expansion is compliant with the UK’s climate change obligations, including the Paris Climate Agreement, before construction can begin.

Now, the judgment does not ensure that a third runway will, in fact, be built.

The coronavirus pandemic has sent the aviation industry reeling, severely diminishing passenger demand and potentially setting Heathrow’s expansion plans back by at least five years. Climate activists have also vowed to continue to challenge the plans in court at every step of the proposed development — and their cause has got the support of one prominent local politician.

«This decision to allow Heathrow Airport a third runway will have a damaging impact on air quality, noise and London’s ability to achieve net-zero carbon by 2030, Sadiq Khan, mayor of the British capital, said in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling. «I urge Heathrow to drop these damaging plans and work with us on a cleaner, greener recovery.