The parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) said the Government’s efforts to support and encourage airport expansion in the UK as a driver for economic growth poses serious risks to meeting legal goals to cut emissions to zero overall by 2050, known as net zero.
In a new report, the MPs warned current policies for cutting emissions from air travel, which rely heavily on technologies such as sustainable aviation fuel that are yet to be seen at a commercial scale, are not enough for the sector to deliver required carbon cuts.
That, alongside the push for airport expansion, is a “risky approach” which puts the delivery of net zero in serious jeopardy, the report says.
The committee added that the Government has not demonstrated that the economic growth from airport expansion provides enough benefit to outweigh the negative climate and environmental impacts it will cause.
And as ministers have ruled out measures to manage demand for aviation such as limiting the number of flights available, the MPs said the Government needed to show what alternatives it will use to cut the hard-to-tackle pollution of the sector.
The Government insisted airport expansion proposals would only go ahead if they were compatible with net zero goals.
The warning from the committee comes in the face of expansion plans and projects at the UK’s busiest airports.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is reviewing proposals for a third runway at Heathrow airport, west London, and this week announced plans to speed up the process.
Last month, she gave the go-ahead for Gatwick airport, in West Sussex, to bring its emergency second runway into routine use.
Manchester airport has increased the capacity of its terminals as part of an ongoing redevelopment project.
Stansted airport, in Essex, has submitted a plan to raise its capacity by making better use of its runway, and a project to expand its existing terminal by a third has already been approved.
In April, Ms Alexander gave the green light for Luton airport, in Bedfordshire, to nearly double its capacity by extending its existing terminal and building a second terminal.
The EAC said approving plans already at Stansted, Luton and Gatwick suggest the Government is proceeding without the necessary evidence to underpin its economic arguments, and before it updates the Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS) which was originally produced in 2018.
The committee called on the Government to set out whether it will be able to deliver on its climate, environment and nature targets while pursuing significant airport expansion, before or alongside an updated policy statement, and before any substantial expansion projects are under way.
The chairman of the EAC, Toby Perkins, said: “The aviation industry is critically important to the UK, but it’s also one of the hardest sectors of our economy to decarbonise.
“Meeting our decarbonisation targets is already a major challenge.
“Expanding airport capacity is likely to make that task much harder.
“Under the Government’s existing Jet Zero Strategy, expanding airport capacity is likely to put net zero at serious risk, unless it is accompanied by a serious strategic approach to increasing the pace of decarbonising aviation.”
He warned: “Having ruled out the kind of demand management measures likely to seriously reduce emissions, ministers need to make clear what alternative tools they are willing to use to ensure targets are met.
“New technological developments are promising and may in time provide an alternative route forward.
“But are they yet ready to be the basis for justifying this level of aviation expansion?” he asked.
And he said ministers were “unable” to point the committee to solid evidence on how much growth the expansion plans were able to deliver.
Alethea Warrington, head of aviation at climate charity Possible, said: “This is the final nail in the coffin for the Government’s case for airport expansion.
“Covering the country in new runways will trash our climate targets, poison our air, and drain even more tourism spending out of our economy – all to send a handful of wealthy people on even more holidays.”
“The Government must listen to the experts, scrap this reckless agenda of airport expansion, and instead invest in the everyday journeys which really matter to millions of us.”
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “The Transport Secretary has launched the review of the Airports National Policy statement – a significant step in advancing plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport, which will drive economic growth and create jobs.
“We have been clear that airport expansion will only go ahead if it aligns with our legal obligations on climate change, including net zero, and we will be seeking advice from the independent Climate Change Committee to inform the ANPS review.”
