Letter from key green groups in UK against Thames Estuary airport plan

The letter, in the Telegraph, from 16 environmental and development groups in the UK concludes that action on climate change is now needed more urgently than ever. Aviation is already responsible for more than a fifth of the UK transport sector’s greenhouse gas emissions, and an airport  accommodating 180 million passengers each year, as proposed by Boris Johnson, would be much larger than any airport in operation in the world today. Such a scheme would effectively be the death-knell for the Government’s promise to be the greenest ever, and would undermine its ability to show international climate leadership.  “That’s why we will be opposing it every step of the way.”

 

Telegraph

20.1.2012

SIR – A new hub airport in the Thames Estuary would be a disaster for the climate, and, as a result, for people and wildlife in this country and globally.

What’s more, there is no clear support for this airport from the British aviation industry. We know this because similar proposals have been considered by previous governments on at least three occasions, and each time they’ve been thrown out.

If anything, the case for Boris Island will only look worse this time round, because action on climate change is needed more urgently than ever. Aviation is already responsible for more than a fifth of the UK transport sector’s greenhouse gas emissions, and an airport accommodating 180 million passengers each year, as proposed by Boris Johnson, would be much larger than any airport in operation in the world today.

Such a scheme would effectively be the death-knell for the Government’s promise to be the greenest ever, and would undermine its ability to show international climate leadership. That’s why we will be opposing it every step of the way.

Paul Brannen
Christian Aid
Neil Thorns
Cafod
Martin Harper
RSPB
Craig Bennet
Friends of the Earth
Paul Cook
Tearfund
Colin Butfield
WWF
Joss Garman
Greenpeace UK
Kirsty Wright
World Development Movement
Susan James
Portsmouth Climate Action Network
Sarah Clayton
Airport Watch
Andy Parsons
Swindon Climate Action Network
Nicola Hutchinson
Plantlife
Lorna Howarth
Artists Project Earth
Jake Leeper and Hannah Smith
UK Youth Climate Coalition
Hugo Tagholm
Surfers Against Sewage
Peter Robinson
Climate Alliance