Overview
- The Climate Change Committee issued formal advice on Sept. 16 that there is no credible way for Heathrow’s planned third runway to proceed under current policies while the UK meets its legally binding net‑zero by 2050 target.
- The committee urged the government to pass legislation requiring the aviation industry to address all its emissions by 2050 and to publish a 25‑year net‑zero aviation strategy with contingency plans if key technologies fail to scale.
- The CCC warned that sustainable aviation fuel and engineered carbon removals are currently tiny in scale and costly, so meeting net zero would likely raise some international fares by hundreds of pounds by 2050.
- The government and airlines said they are investing in SAF, cleaner aircraft and airspace upgrades and argued any expansion must align with net zero while keeping the transition affordable for travellers.
- Aviation emissions have more than doubled since 1990 and Heathrow accounts for roughly half of the sector’s UK emissions, creating a policy choice between expansion’s economic benefits and binding rules to make the sector pay for decarbonisation.