Support for the government's decision on a third runway at Heathrow seems to be ebbing away this week. Several business leaders, including the heads of Sainsbury's and Carphone Warehouse, laid their cards on the table and made it clear in a letter to the Times that they don't see the need for the extra runway.
They're in good company. Around a dozen local authorities and six environmental charities – including the RSPB – are currently mounting a legal challenge to the Government's decision on a third runway.
Like us, they're confident that a third runway is not the answer. They agree that other options, such as a high speed rail link to the North, need to be investigated.
It's heartening to have such respected voices speaking up for nature – albeit in terms that are more familiar in the boardroom than on the footpaths of Minsmere, or in the rainforests of Indonesia.
What's most valuable, though, is the nail this drives into the flimsy coffin of a myth that the business community needs a third runway at Heathrow in order to grow, and to thrive. In the words of these leaders – "the benefits to business are unclear and unproven". We couldn't have put it better ourselves. And, let's face it, these guys are well qualified to make pronouncements like this.
High carbon growth simply isn't the only form of growth that can help our economy recover. All the evidence shows that locking in high carbon infrastructure will substantially undermine the cuts in emissions needed across all sectors of the economy in order to avoid dangerous climate change. And, as Sir Nicholas Stern said in his review of the economics of climate change, it will be considerably cheaper to take action to curb emissions now compared to the cost of coping with dangerous climate change in the future.
Committing to development like this also seriously challenges the credibility of the Government, so hot on the heels of the Climate Act, and its target of cutting emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Just how on earth – and specifically, how on a proposed tarmac runway at Heathrow – could such a target be met?
The RSPB will continue to oppose the expansion of air travel until Government can demonstrate how this can be achieved without compromising the CO2 emission cuts that the Climate Act commits us to. And having these voices of big business crying out alongside the million voices for nature that our membership affords us makes the case even more undeniable.