Environmental campaigners protest outside the Royal Courts of Justice ahead of the announcement of … [+]
The British government’s plan to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport have been ruled illegal by a UK court of appeal on the grounds that the plans do not take into account the country’s climate change commitments under the Paris Agreement.
The government can appeal the decision, but has so far declined to do so according to the judge. The future of the project is now uncertain. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who took office last summer, has differed from his Conservative predecessors and vocally opposed the runway. In 2015 Johnson said he would “lie down in front of those bulldozers and stop the construction”.
Heathrow is the biggest airport in Europe, with 80 million passengers per. The £14 billion ($18 billion) third runway project would have been completed by 2028. The government estimates it could add capacity of 700 more planes per day to the airport, which is currently. operating over capacity.
