Committee publication · Correspondence · 22 January 2026 · HC 831
Letter to Secretary of State for Transport relating to the Government response to the committees report on Airport expansion and Climate and Nature targets, 22 January 2026
Summary
The Environmental Audit Committee welcomes the Government's general response to its airport expansion report but expresses significant concerns about lack of specificity. The committee seeks clarification on economic analysis, air quality limits, noise targets, carbon budgeting mechanisms, sustainable aviation fuel analysis, and parliamentary scrutiny arrangements for the revised Airports National Policy Statement, requesting a response by 28 February 2026.
Key findings
- Committee welcomes government commitment to use ANPS review to address Net Zero, pollution, and biodiversity issues, and commitment to include international aviation emissions in carbon budgets from 2033 onwards by summer 2026
- Committee remains concerned response lacks specific targets, measures, and explicit commitments needed to scrutinise progress on balancing airport expansion with climate and environmental goals
- Committee requests confirmation that government will provide detailed economic impact data for airports beyond Heathrow, including cumulative effects on regional airports
- Committee seeks explicit air quality pollution ceilings, noise targets benchmarked against WHO limits, and transparent mapping of noise pollution exceedances in revised ANPS
- Committee expresses concern that parliamentary time commitment for aviation carbon budget legislation carries qualification 'subject to parliamentary time availability'—language used previously without legislative follow-through
Tone
CriticalTopics
Key actors
Toby Perkins MP, Heidi Alexander MP, Department for Transport, Environmental Audit Committee, Civil Aviation Authority, International Civil Aviation Organization, Climate Change Committee, Whittle Laboratory
Notable line
“… without explicit commitments, confidence that government will be able to achieve this pledge will remain in short supply.”
Key Quotes
“We consider the latter as crucial if we are to scrutinise and track progress on balancing expansion of airports and economic growth with climate change and environmental goals.”
“… we remain concerned that the response lacks specific targets, measures and explicit commitments.”
“This form of wording was used by the previous Government and the necessary legislation was not brought forward.”
“Whilst the science may not be entirely settled, our visit to the Whittle Laboratory seemed to suggest that enough is known to be confident that improved contrail avoidance will play a significant role in reducing global warming”
“… without the targets and measures we identified in our report and the other issues raised in this letter …”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗