Airport hits back after fears over ‘net zero’ risk

BRISTOL Airport has insisted it is “critical” to the region’s economy after MPs warned that airport expansion could put the country’s net zero goal in “serious jeopardy.”

- JOHN WIMPERIS

A report by the House of Commons’ Environmental Audit Committee released last week warned that expanding airports in the United Kingdom would make the government's climate targets “significantly more difficult to achieve and at much greater effort and cost.” It added: “The government has not demonstrated that the economic growth from airport expansion provides enough benefit to outweigh the negative climate and environmental impacts it will lead to.”

Although the report is not specific to Bristol Airport, Mary Collet of anti-expansion campaign group Bristol Airport Action Network (BAAN) said the report was “really important.” In 2023, BAAN took Bristol Airport to the High Court to try and stop it expanding to 12 million passengers per year. BAAN lost the case and the airport is now planning to apply to expand again to 15 million passengers per year.