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| .Opponents welcome an appeal ruling against building a controversial third runway at London's Heathrow airport, Europe's busiest. (AFP Photo/Niklas HALLE'N) |
London (AFP) - Britain's Court of Appeal on Thursday ruled in favour of green campaigners who oppose the building of a third runway at London's Heathrow airport, Europe's busiest.
The court
said the UK government -- which in 2018 approved the Heathrow extension -- had
failed to take into account its commitments to the Paris Agreement to limit
climate warming.
The legal
action against the approval was brought by various London councils,
environmental groups including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, and London
Mayor Sadiq Khan. They lost at an original hearing in May.
In a
summary, judge Keith Lindblom said the Conservative government under then-prime
minister Theresa May gave no explanation of how it took into account the 2015
Paris accord -- which seeks to cap climate warming to less than two degrees
Celsius.
"The
Paris Agreement ought to have been taken into account... and an explanation
given as to how it was taken into account, but it was not," Lord Justice
Lindblom said.
The judge
added that the government did not oppose its declaration -- and had not sought
permission to appeal to London's Supreme Court.
In 2015
while he was London mayor, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to
"lie down in front of... bulldozers and stop the construction" of a
third runway, citing environmental as well as aesthetic concerns.
Johnson may
still have to make an official decision on scrapping the project, however,
after Heathrow airport -- which is owned by a consortium led by Spanish
construction giant Ferrovial -- declared it would appeal Thursday's ruling.
Khan
welcomed news of Thursday's landmark legal victory.
"We
won! Today we blocked the Tory government plans to build a third runway at
Heathrow Airport," the London mayor said.
"Today's
judgement is a major victory for all Londoners who are passionate about
tackling the climate emergency and cleaning up our air."
John
Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, called on Johnson to now formally
axe the plans.
"Boris
Johnson should now put Heathrow out of its misery and cancel the third runway
once and for all. No ifs, no buts, no lies, no U-turns," Sauven said.
Prior to
the ruling, building of the third runway had been expected to start in 2022 and
take four years.
Johnson, who
wants big infrastructure projects to help drive Britain's post-Brexit economy,
earlier this month gave his backing to the high-speed railway link HS2,
dismissing soaring costs.
