A parliamentary committee has warned that government plans to expand several major airports could threaten the UK’s legally binding climate targets. In a new report, the cross-party Environmental Audit Committee said ministers had failed to show that the environmental cost of increasing flight numbers would be offset by the potential for economic growth.
Recent government approvals include a third runway at Heathrow and a second at Gatwick, with Luton also eyeing expansion. If both Heathrow and Gatwick proceed, the UK could see more than 370,000 additional flights each year. The Department for Transport (DfT) has maintained that any airport development will only move forward if it complies with climate change laws and net zero obligations.
Committee chair Toby Perkin said that achieving net zero while expanding air travel would only be possible through rapid progress in decarbonising aviation, including the large-scale adoption of sustainable fuels — a technology not yet commercially viable. The report also criticised the lack of clear evidence linking airport growth to wider economic benefits.
Dr Alex Chapman of the New Economics Foundation described the findings as a “damning verdict” on the government’s aviation policy, arguing that the assumption of economic gain was flawed. He noted that business air travel continues to decline, while more Britons are flying abroad for leisure than tourists are arriving to spend in the UK.
