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Across the UK and internationally, multiple airports are planning to expand. We believe this is unacceptable in the present climate crisis and is clearly detrimental to the health and well-being of local residents. We demand that there be no further airport expansion.

Context

UK aviation passenger numbers reached their highest level in 2019, and the industry and government are planning for a further increase of more than 70% by 2050 while claiming that costly and unproven technologies, and a rapid scaling of alternative fuels, will help the sector to achieve net zero by the same date. Ignoring the risk that airport expansion plans could have on the Government’s ability to meet its climate obligations, several airport expansions have already been granted approval. While some of these are still being challenged in the courts by community campaigns, the current round of expansion plans includes major proposals to grow Luton, Gatwick and City Airport. Heathrow also still have plans to expand. AEF has estimated that these plans combined could add a further 8MtCO2 per annum. 

Our Manifesto

Supporters of this campaign believe that the UK’s airports are big enough and any further expansion threatens our health and livelihood. A global minority flies at the expense of workers, people and the planet. As the world heats up to dangerous temperatures with devastating impacts, the aviation industry should not be allowed to burn through our remaining carbon budget and pollute our skies with luxury flights.

We call for a 3-year pause on all UK airport expansion plans. This moratorium will allow time to assess whether the expansion of the aviation industry can ever be compatible with the UK’s legal commitment to net zero by 2050.

The Governments own scientific advisors, the Climate Change Committee, have also recommended a pause on airport growth. Their 2023 progress report advised that “No airport expansions should proceed until a UK-wide capacity management framework is in place to assess annually and, if required, control sector CO2 emissions and non-CO2 effects.”

We also consider that the noise impacts on communities around airports and those under flights are unacceptable. A moratorium would allow an incoming government to assess the health and quality of life impacts of the noise and to develop measures to tackle it.

We believe that the policies used to make planning decisions about airport’s expansion plans are out of date and the current first-come-first-served approach does not reflect the increasing climate emergency or the disruption caused to residents’ lives by increasing air traffic. Any planning decision on airport expansion needs to be informed by robust forecasts of the cumulative CO2 from all UK airports, and not just by the modelling presented in Jet Zero.

Our supporters believe that the ‘techno-fixes’ relied upon by the Government to mitigate the damage caused by the planned increase in air traffic contained in the Jet Zero Policy (such as so-called Sustainable Aviation Fuel, hydrogen and electric planes) cannot be relied upon to cut emissions in a climate-relevant timeframe. This is because they are either unworkable at scale, damaging in other areas (such as diverting resources away from other sectors) or too expensive to be taken up at scale by the industry. 

We intend to do all we can to persuade MPs and other decision makers (both current and incoming ones post election) to support our aims.

We will also support each other and increase resilience in the campaigning sector by sharing information and assisting each other’s campaigns where appropriate.