Stansted Airport expansion flies in the face of the climate crisis

  • Post last modified:October 15, 2024
  • Reading time:9 mins read


The Labour government just announced a £1.1bn investment in a Stansted Airport expansion over the next five years, ultimately showing how little it cares about the planet and climate crisis:

Stansted airport expansion: climate crisis inbound

Of course, the government’s decision flies (almost quite literally) in the face of the climate crisis.

This includes the advice of its very own independent body the Climate Change Committee. Crucially, it had argued that government’s shouldn’t approve any airport expansions as this would jeopardise its climate commitments.

Naturally then, first the Labour Party gave the greenlight to the London City Airport expansion in August. It alone will mean the UK will pump out a further 230,000 tonnes of carbon-equivalent emissions a year, up to 2050.

Evidently, it wasn’t content with spewing just these extra hundreds of thousands of planet-wrecking emissions into the atmosphere. Now, it wants to ramp this up with Stansted’s expansion too:

The government was bandying around its shiny new investment, jobs, and the economic contributions it’ll purportedly make for the UK. By contrast, it was a little quiet about the greenhouse gases it would produce:

Previously, the New Economics Foundation had estimated that the Stansted airport expansion plans could add another 281,000 tonnes of emissions a year. All that’s ON TOP of the staggering emissions London’s airports are pumping out already.

Labour didn’t get the memo that in 2019, London’s six airports generated the same amount of air pollution as 3.23m cars then? Obviously, it’s more likely it did, it’s just that it doesn’t care.

Solar farms and the stuff of climate offset fiction

Don’t worry though, Labour and Gatwick have a sleek solution to all that pollution. That is, stick a solar farm over the problem:

That’s some good ol’ greenwashing guff right there. Though, one person on X felt the new government might be missing a trick:

Naturally, it all happened just as we found out that trees and land absorbed almost zero carbon dioxide last year. Needless to say, the sudden collapse in carbon sinks was not factored into climate crisis modelling:

Who’s going to break it to the airline companies that they’re favourite carbon offsetting scam just isn’t gonna fly – because the forests aren’t taking it anymore? Not that it ever did anyway, given countless studies and court rulings junking offset credit schemes.

Labour hasn’t stuck the landing on its climate pledges

If the new expansion is anything, it’s a sure-fire way to accelerate climate chaos:

And while air travel will be soaring, the government will expect the public to pick up the slack on cutting emissions:

I’m old enough to remember Haigh announcing investment for cycling a day after the last airport expansion announcement. That would be: Labour’s number one plan to make the rest of us tackle the climate crisis, while CEOs fly business class each week, everyone else must get on their bikes.

But it’s what the electorate wanted, right? Certain, eventual death:

Mind ahead, jet-setting Starmer is taking U-turns to new heights. First, the party jettisoned its £28 green investment pledge. Then, it started turbo-boosting the industry destroying the planet.

Of course, the Stansted airport expansion is Labour’s climate crisis plan in a nutshell. It will still fuck the Earth, just now with extra greenwashing. Oh and don’t forget the jobs, the extra jobs always make ruining the only known habitable planet in this solar system totally worth it.

The only ‘change’ Starmer is giving us is more of the climate destruction kind. But as long as his rich pals are happy, eh?

Because, absolutely nothing to see here… just the fact that multiple new Labour MPs have taken funding from a lobbying firm which shills for the International Airlines Group (IAG). Forget getting in bed with big business, the new Labour government has well and truly joined the ‘Mile High Club’ when it comes to the corporate capitalists screwing the planet.

Feature image via Youtube- 10 Downing Street/ Casey Planespotting/ the Canary





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