JET ZERO AVIATION – JUST MORE HOT AIR
STOP HEATHROW EXPANSION
PRESS RELEASE
8 September 2021
For immediate use
JET ZERO AVIATION – JUST MORE HOT AIR
The message in Westminster was hot air yesterday, and not just due to the late summer heatwave. A dozen politicians gathered with campaigners representing communities across west, south west, and south London to highlight that the Government’s Jet Zero consultation, which closes today, will create little more than more hot air on an even hotter planet if Heathrow expansion proposals are not dropped as soon as possible (1).
The Jet Zero consultation put forward a series of initiatives to decarbonise domestic aviation by 2040, including electric and hydrogen planes, as well as the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels. But campaigners argue that the Government are placing too greater a reliance upon technologies which are either yet to exist or are in their infancy, whilst at the same time continuing with plans to expand Heathrow.
MPs attending the gathering included (2): Fleur Anderson (Putney), Karen Buck (Westminster North), Ruth Cadbury (Brentford & Isleworth), Marsha de Cordova (Battersea), Caroline Lucas (Brighton Pavillion), John McDonnell (Hayes & Harlington), Sarah Olney (Richmond Park), Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) and Munira Wilson (Twickenham), representing a large swathe on London’s population.
Speaking to MPs and campaigners outside Parliament, Rob Barnstone from Stop Heathrow Expansion said:
“The facts are quite clear. The single biggest thing the Government can do to decarbonise aviation is to abandon plans for a third runway at Heathrow.
“Heathrow is the single largest polluter in the UK. Its emissions account for over half of all UK aviation emissions and if a third runway is allowed then an extra seven megatonnes of carbon would be added every year, on top of the twenty megatonnes it emits annually already. It would be unconscionable, not to mention illegal, to allow this.”
Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said:
“How is it possible that the Government’s Jet Zero Aviation Consultation became such a flight of fantasy? As if entirely oblivious of the Committee on Climate Change's advice that there's no room within the UK's carbon targets for a net expansion of UK aviation capacity, it seeks to claim that aviation net zero could be achieved by 2050, even with a 58% net increase in aviation capacity, including expansion of Heathrow.
“Can the Government really be hoping that the aviation industry led Jet Zero Consultation will pull rabbits out of a hat, with “Sustainable Aviation Fuels” and “Zero Emission Aircraft”, although these can be little more than pipe dreams for the next half century?”
Plans to expand Heathrow may be reviewed once the Government’s plans for Jet Zero are finalised, following the consultation process. The Government stated in a letter earlier this week (3), which was in reply to requests for a review of the Airports National Policy Statement, that “the timing of any re-consideration of the appropriateness of whether to review the ANPS after the Jet Zero strategy is finalised will need to have regard to the availability of long-term aviation demand forecasts at that stage.”
ENDS.
Notes:
1) Pictures: https://www.no3rdrunwaycoalition.co.uk/photos?pgid=jnd8a3ri-4e09bdd4-30be-4e4b-8ef1-35c8163befa4
https://twitter.com/StopHeathrowExp/status/1435230716493766664/photo/1
Contact for additional images if required.
2) Click on the highlighted name to view MP tweet on the gathering.
3) Government announced on 6 September that it would not review the Airport National Policy Statement, which enables Heathrow expansion, until the Government’s Jet Zero plans were finalised. That is expected in December 2021 or early 2022. See https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1015207/decision-on-requests-to-review-the-anps.pdf p.2