Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the letter from the Committee on Climate Change to his Department, of 22 November 2016, if he will make it his policy that final approval of additional capacity at Heathrow Airport is contingent on the UK meeting its carbon budgets in 2050 without international offsets or additional emissions reductions being required in other sectors of the economy.

The Government agrees with the Airports Commission’s assessment that a new runway at Heathrow can be delivered within the UK’s carbon obligations. The Government is working on an aviation strategy to replace the 2013 Aviation Policy Framework, and this will include consideration of available policy measures to address the climate change impacts of aviation.

Given the international nature of the aviation sector, the Government is also taking action on this sector at a global level, including working to reach an agreement on the first worldwide scheme to address carbon emissions from aviation through the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).