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Leeds City Council have approved plans for Leeds Bradford Airport Expansion. This will increase passengers from 4 to 7 million annually. This has happened in the context of climate breakdown. It is an unethical decision @GfAoLBA (1)
Sir David King, the government's former chief scientific advisor, has warned: “Time is no longer on our side… what we plan to do over the next 10 to 12 years will determine the future of humanity for the next 10,000 years”. (2)
Leeds City Council declared a Climate Emergency in March 2019 and in December 2020 committed to making Leeds carbon net zero by 2045 saying ‘We will do everything within our power and influence to rapidly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions’. (3)
The airport’s Chief Exec has claimed that new technology will soon make flying ‘carbon neutral’. But in September 2019, the UK Committee on Climate Change advised the government that there is no realistic prospect of zero carbon flying on a commercial scale before 2050. (4)
Climate scientists at the University of Leeds offered the following objection …https://10759eb7-02de-407f-b74e-1992e0fbcddf.filesusr.com/ugd/620022_fffce6aed1ff4fe0ac8eda718c44b5e7.pdf ... Let me quote from it in the following tweets (5)
The leader of Leeds City Council said in respect of the Leeds Climate Emergency Declaration in March 2019: “Local councils should not wait for their national governments to change their policies.” (6)
In January 2020, Leeds City Council publicly accepted that expanding aviation is “fundamentally incompatible” with reaching net zero until flying can be made zero emission. (7)
Leeds Core Strategy states:“there is a strong policy imperative to constrain emissions from all development as soon as possible” and “We have an obligation to protect our environmental resources and to pass on to future generations the natural wealth that we have inherited..”(8)
There is unmistakable evidence that the proposed development would
i. have a very significant negative impact on the UK’s ability to reach
net zero by 2050
ii. make it impossible for Leeds to reach net zero by 2030, or even by
2050 (9)
i. have a very significant negative impact on the UK’s ability to reach
net zero by 2050
ii. make it impossible for Leeds to reach net zero by 2030, or even by
2050 (9)
iii. escalate the risk that future generations will not be able to meet their
needs.
If similar developments were replicated around the world, it would lock us into catastrophic climate change, which highlights that the proposed development is not only highly harmful but unfair.
needs.
If similar developments were replicated around the world, it would lock us into catastrophic climate change, which highlights that the proposed development is not only highly harmful but unfair.
LCC recognised that: “Society needs leadership at international, national and local level. Council is aware that current plans and actions are not enough. The world is on track to overshoot the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit before 2050...
.....All governments nationally and locally have a duty to limit the negative impacts of global warming. Local councils should not wait for their national governments to change their policies.
It is important for the residents of Leeds and the UK that cities commit to carbon neutrality as quickly as possible."
Given all this Leeds City Council should have a long and hard look at themselves to figure out how, given all they have said and promised, the decision to expand the airport (and flights) was met with approval.
Well done to those who voted against the decision. You are on the right side of history and justice. If you would like to financially support the appeal to this decision see this link https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/christopher-foren-1
Most of the text used in these tweets is found here. https://www.galba.uk/why-oppose-expansion This is a justice issue. We face an existential threat. We are on a trajectory of mass starvation, mass migration and societal collapse. The least we could do is not make things worse.
