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The UK government is expected to give the go-ahead for the construction of a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport on Wednesday, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves set to announce the decision. Reeves has claimed that “sustainable aviation fuel” will cut emissions, with huge investment going into electric planes, and that a third runway would mean fewer planes circling over London as pilots wait to land. However, the decision has been met with opposition due to the environmental impact of the expansion.
While “sustainable” fuels made from renewable sources have been introduced, with the UK government announcing that by 2030, 10% of all jet fuel used in flights taking off from the UK must be sustainable as a way to reduce the impact of aviation on emissions, there are several issues with using this rollout of sustainable fuels as a justification for airport expansion. Sustainable fuels are currently used in a small fraction of jet fuel, and scaling this up will be a major challenge. They are not completely carbon-neutral and can vary widely between fuel types.
Electric planes have been seen as a potential solution as they can be powered by renewable electricity, but the weight of batteries is currently viewed as a major obstacle to a large-scale expansion of electric-powered flights, particularly for long haul journeys. Although there are a number of small battery-powered electric planes, most analysts do not see widespread electric air travel being a realistic prospect in the near future.
According to Heathrow Airport, an average of 232 aircraft are held in one of four “stacks” above London each day, where they circle at or above 7,000 feet until there is space to land at the airport. They spend an average of 6.85 minutes in a stack. As such, it is difficult to estimate whether an extra Heathrow runway would reduce stacking, let alone reduce emissions.
Despite advocates of expansion of the UK’s largest airport stating it is vital for boosting national economic growth, critics of the decision have pointed out that Reeves appears to be conflicting with the advice of the government’s own independent adviser on cutting emissions, the Climate Change Committee (CCC). It has repeatedly cautioned against airport expansion without a framework in place to manage overall national capacity
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