Representation by Sustainable St Albans (Sustainable St Albans)
- Date submitted
- 23 June 2023
- Submitted by
- Non-statutory organisations
There is a climate and environmental crisis, caused by emissions of so called greenhouse gases, principally arising from the exploration for and the burning of fossil fuels, such as aviation fuel. Climate change is already causing and significantly exacerbating floods, drought, wild fires, crop failure and hurricane damage across the globe, with devastating losses of life and huge impoverishment of the quality of life of those worst affected. The only meaningful (and highly practical) way to mitigate these effects is to reduce and then eliminate the burning of fossil fuels, including by aeroplanes. We acknowledge that the UK government's climate committee carbon budget envisages modest increases in aviation, but you must equally acknowledge that there is currently sufficient airport capacity in the UK to absorb that budget without any airport expansion. The only responsible course of action available to Luton Airport is to continually reduce the number of aeroplane movements, and to make a well publicised virtue of such a plan. We oppose any expansion of Luton Airport.