𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Plans to build a third runway at Heathrow will not go ahead if it stops the UK meeting its legally-binding carbon emissions, the Energy Secretary has said.

Ed Miliband made the claim as he was grilled by MPs on the environmental audit committee on Monday as he insisted “any aviation expansion must be justified within carbon budgets, and if it can’t be justified, it won’t go ahead.”

It comes as the Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to announce her support for the expansion of the UK’s largest airport, a decision Miliband has been an opponent of for climate reasons.

He has since ruled out resigning if the project goes ahead but has stressed the importance of the government sticking to plans to deliver on the country’s 2050 target to reduce emissions by 100% compared with 1990 levels.

Mr Miliband told MPs: “I just want to sort of provide this element of reassurance to you, which is 100% any aviation expansion must be justified within carbon budgets, and if it can’t be justified, it won’t go ahead.”

He later added that he has “always thought” the Government’s goal with aviation is to neither “stop people going on holiday (and) stop the economy getting what it needs” nor “business as usual, as if climate change is not a problem”.

“I think that is a sensible middle ground of this debate,” he said. “And to make that a reality, we have a system in this country of carbon budgets.

“And so it’s really important to say this: Any decisions about airport expansion take place within that framework.”

Supporters of the project argue that increasing the capacity of the airport is vital if the UK is to make good on its promise of economic growth.

Critics argue that a third runway will increase pollution and disruption in the heavily populated surrounding areas.

Mr Miliband did not respond when challenged that existing UK airport capacity can already cater for such an increase, but said: “We have a range of mechanisms to make sure that any aviation expansion is consistent with (the) carbon budgets.”

The Government is soon to publish the UK’s seventh carbon budget, which will include the legal limit on the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions the country can emit from 2038 to 2042 if it is to meet net zero by mid-Century.

On which sectors would need to contract their emissions to compensate for the increase in aviation to meet net zero, Mr Miliband said it “depends on a whole range of factors”.

“Carbon budget seven next month will give a greater sense of the pathway for framing decisions the Government makes,” he said.

But asked whether the Government would wait until the CCC’s advice on the carbon budget is published next month before it makes any announcements on airport expansion, Mr Miliband once again refused to be drawn into speculation on potential announcements.