Research has found that there is no credible scenario in which expansion at Heathrow Airport can go ahead without negatively impacting the UK’s climate targets.
A report by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Manchester has concluded that the airport upgrade is incompatible with legal carbon budgets.
It was found that the UK’s aviation sector will already exceed its share of the Seventh Carbon Budget by around 40% before the expansion takes place.
The report also highlighted that the Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) would be unable to close the emissions gap and even the most optimistic deployment of this technology would leave the industry above its carbon budget.
Dr Lois Pennington, lead researcher, said: “Sustainable aviation fuels and carbon removals can contribute to limiting aviation emissions, but there is currently no evidence that these technologies can support the scale of aviation expansion envisaged by the government.
“Further aviation expansion carries a significant risk of exacerbating climate impacts by relying on the growth of technologies that are unlikely to materialise in the timescale needed.”
Greenhouse Gas Removals (GGRs) is the process of removing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it long-term. The study concluded that GGR deployment is off track and the building capacity for more aviation demand before these facilities are operational is also inconsistent with climate targets.
Currently aviation’s full warming effects are not included in carbon budgets. Impacts from nitrogen oxides and soot, account for around two-thirds of aviation’s climate warming but are not incorporated into future climate targets.
The public consultation on the government’s Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement (HENPS) closed on Tuesday the 1st September, as the Tyndall Centre is calling for the government to reject the construction and ensure future aviation policy remains consistent with carbon budgets.
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