Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government has made an assessment of the potential restrictions that will be required on the expansion of regional airports in order to meet targets set in the Climate Change Act 2008 in the event that the expansion at Heathrow Airport takes place.

The Updated Appraisal Report, published alongside the revised draft Airports National Policy Statement in October 2017, sets out the carbon scenarios used by the Government to address uncertainties over the future policy treatment of international aviation emissions. It confirms that expansion via a Northwest Runway at Heathrow Airport can be delivered within the UK’s carbon obligations under the Climate Change Act 2008.

The Government considers that growth in the aviation sector, including at regional airports, is compatible with the UK's climate change obligations. Even in a scenario where aviation carbon emissions are capped to the Committee on Climate Change’s planning assumption of 37.5 MtCO2, the analysis showed that passenger numbers would continue to grow at regional airports. The Government will continue to develop policy relating to carbon emissions from aviation as part of the new Aviation Strategy.