After years of discussion and consultation, the Planning Inspectorate delivered its 963 page report last year on whether or not Luton Airport should be allowed to expand. All things considered, “the public benefits do not outweigh the environmental harm”, they concluded. “The Secretary of State for Transport should withhold consent.”
The Secretary disagrees, and yesterday authorised the expansion because it would create economic growth and jobs. “We will stop at nothing to deliver economic growth,” said a government spokesperson – even at the expense of the climate.
One recurring theme in the justifying of this decision is the airport’s Green Controlled Growth framework. The secretary mentions it, the council and Luton’s MPs use it. Here’s Paul Kehoe, chair of Luton Rising, the council body that owns the airport: “By introducing maximum limits for the airport’s noise, operational greenhouse gas emissions, air quality and surface access impacts, we also believe that our Green Controlled Growth framework represents the most far-reaching commitment to the sustainable operation of an airport ever put forward in the UK.”
This idea of maximum greenhouse gas emissions was also used in Luton Rising’s adverts last year. “If we miss our environmental limits, our expansion will be stopped in its tracks,” the ad claimed – before the Advertising Standards Authority ordered them taken down for being misleading.
The problem here is that word ‘operational’. When Luton Airport says it’s going to cap operational emissions, it means everything that happens on the ground. It doesn’t include the planes.
What percentage of Luton Airport’s emissions are we talking about? Here’s a direct quote from the airport’s latest sustainability report:
“Carbon emissions from our operations make up 0.48% of our total footprint.”
Feel free to go and look that up for yourself. It’s on page 34 of the pdf.
The Secretary of State for Transport, Luton Rising, Luton’s councillors and MPs are all talking this week about how the airport is going to cap its emissions and commit to staying below them. The airport’s CEO was on Radio 4 this morning talking about Green Controlled Growth, and neglected to mention the all important ‘operational’word altogether. But this endlessly repeated commitment to operational emissions covers less than half of one percent of the airport’s carbon emissions.
As the airport’s sustainability report goes on to say, 75% of their emissions are from planes, but even then they only count the take-offs and landings. Once a plane reaches altitude, they stop counting. If we did calculate those emissions – and we should – then Luton Airport’s climate impact would be much bigger and that 0.48% would dwindle even further into greenwashed insignificance.
There is currently no such thing as sustainable aviation, and therefore no such thing as responsible airport expansion.
- Flight Free UK have a petition against airport expansion that you might want to sign.
The Earthbound Report 