Plans to build a third runway at Heathrow might breach the Government’s own climate change rules, an independent committee has warned.
The Committee on Climate Change, a statutory body set up to advise the UK government on emissions targets, said other industry sectors would have to make dramatic cuts to their emissions to make up for the rise in aviation emissions.
The CCC said in order to stay within the targets, emissions from air travel in 2050 should not rise above 2005 levels.
But the plan for Heathrow projects a 15% increase in aviation emissions by 2050.
If that increase is allowed, the committee said deeper emissions cuts will have to be squeezed from other sectors of the economy.
"My committee has limited confidence about the options for other sectors to go beyond these levels by 2050," wrote chair Lord Deben in a letter to the Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark.
