Commenting on the Chancellor’s speech on economic growth delivered today, Greenpeace UK’s policy director Dr Doug Parr said:
“The Chancellor is dead right that tackling climate change is the biggest industrial opportunity of the 21st century, but dead wrong to think airport expansion is the way to seize it. A third runway at Heathrow is unlikely to boost the UK economy but will certainly boost noise, air pollution and climate emissions. It’s airlines and airport bosses who will reap the lion’s share of economic benefits, leaving taxpayers and holidaymakers to pay billions for new infrastructure and transport links.
“It’s not a ‘growth at all costs’ approach that will get us to a better economic future. Instead of picking up any old polluting project from the discard pile, the Chancellor should focus on industries that can attract investment and bring wider economic and social benefits. These include upgrading our power grid, railways and housing while growing the renewables revolution and spearheading innovation in green steel, electric vehicles and batteries.”
ENDS
Greenpeace UK’s chief scientist Doug Parr and programme director Amy Cameron are available for interviews. Please contact us on 020 7865 8255 and press.uk@greenpeace.org
Key facts
- Expert analysis shows the increase in air travel over the last few years has failed to boost UK productivity or GDP growth
- Business travel is in long-term decline – it peaked in 2006 and is down by 3.9 million (29%) between 2019 and 2023
- Airport expansion in the South East would wipe out the annual emissions saved by the Clean Power Plan within five years
- In the UK, 70% of flights are made by a generally wealthy 15% of the population, with more than half of Britons not flying abroad at all
- Wider regions of the UK could lose £43bn out of their economies as 27,000 jobs move to London and the south-east as a result of the Heathrow third runway expansion