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The Cirencester People and Planet group sent the following questionaire around all the MPs in the country to solicit their feedback on airport expansion. The questionaire was done immediately before the publication of the IPCC report, it maybe that some of their responses will now change.
Question asked:
1. Do you support the proposed airport expansion?
a. Yes, with no reservation
b. Yes, but with reservations about the environmental impacts
c. No
2. The Stern report concludes that there is a 50% change of global warming exceeding 50C which would lead to environmental catastrophe and that a cut of up to 80% of current emissions is required by 2050 to stabilise emissions. How do you think airport expansion impacts these conclusions?
a. Not at all
b. In some way
c. Makes achievement of these targets impossible
3. The words "sustainable development" have been used to describe the proposed airport expansions. What do you understand by sustainable development in the context of airport expansion?
a. Total emissions of CO2 by the aviation industry will remain static
b. Total emissions of CO2 by the aviation industry will go down
c. Total CO2 emissions per passenger will go down
d. Total number of passengers will remain static
e. Nothing, you do not believe that that airport expansion is sustainable
4. Please advise on any other comments or views that you have on airport expansion.
The responses that we recieved follow:
Julian Brazier (Conservative) said:
I do not normally reply to questionnaires but as my party's aviation spokesman I am happy to say that I do believe that the government's predict and provide attitude to runway expansion is incompatible with its targets on CO2 emissions.
NICK HARVEY (Lib Dem Shadow Defence Secretary) said:
Answer to question 1: “Yes, but with reservations about the environmental impacts”
Question 2 the Stern Report is being quite widely discredited, but logically B. The UN scientists' report is more credible.
Question 3 ~ none of your options (maybe C). I understand it to mean that more efficient use of more efficient aircraft will mean greater passenger numbers can take place while limiting the growth in emissions to a level we can offset with a range of other environmental measures.
Question 4 ~ airports cannot expand willy nilly and some reductions in what has been planned could prove necessary. But the era of air travel is not about to end.
LYNNE JONES MP (Labour) said:
I do not support aviation expansion
Greg Knight MP (Conservative) said:
I support airport expansion with reservations The Stern report is now increasingly discredited and so I would not Base any conclusions on it whatever. PLEASE NOTE: IPCC has backtracked on global warming predictions: "mankind has had less effect on global warming than previously supposed, a United Nations report on climate change has claimed. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says there can be little doubt that humans are responsible for warming the planet, but the organisation has reduced its overall estimate of this effect by 25 per cent. In a final draft of its fourth assessment report, to be published in February, the panel reports that the level of CO2 in the atmosphere has accelerated in the past five years. It also predicts that temperatures will rise by up to 4.5 degreesC during the next 100 years. The panel, however, has lowered predictionsof how much sea levels will rise in comparison with its last report in 2001. The IPCC has been forced to halve its predictions for sea-level rise by 2100, one of the key threats from climate change. It says improved data have reduced the upper estimate from 34 inches to 17 inches. Julian Morris, executive director of International Policy Network, urged governments to be cautious: "there needs to be better data before billions of pounds are spent on policy measures that may have little impact," he said.
Greg Mulholland MP (Lib Dem) said:
Answer to question 1 : c – Does not support airport expansion
Answer to question 2: - Answered C, (but with the caveat of saying highly unlikely rather than impossible because you can never say impossible)
Answer to question 3: e –does not believe that that airport expansion is sustainable.
Further comments “I’ve thought this through and it is highly questionable as well as a real concern environmentally. It makes a mockery of any green credentials the Government pretends to have.
Clare Short MP (Labour)
Answer to question 1 : c – Does not support airport expansion
Answer to question 2: - Answered B, “In some way”
Answer to question 3: Answered b “Total emissions of CO2 by the aviation industry will go down.”
Martin Horwood MP (Lib Dem)
Answer to question 1 : c – Does not support airport expansion
Answer to question 2: c - Makes achievement of these targets impossible
Answer to question 3: e –does not believe that that airport expansion is sustainable.
Further comments: Air travel is often the largest single component of an individual's Carbon footprint and is set to expand significantly as a proportion of the UK's carbon emissions over the next 20 years. The petroleum industry have confirmed to me that there is no sustainable alternative to aviation fuel in prospect so the only way in which we can seriously tackle aviation's contribution to climate change is by restraining it. Constraining airport capacity has to be an important part of any strategy - which means opposing the expansions.
Paul Flynn MP (Labour)
Answer to question 1 : c – Does not support airport expansion
Answer to question 2: c - Makes achievement of these targets impossible
Answer to question 3: e –does not believe that that airport expansion is sustainable.
Further comments:
The worst threat to the human habitat
Donohoe, Mr Brian H. (Lab)
Brian did not answer any question, he merely asked the following questions of us:-
Can you show me the evidence of 'Global warming' please? Tell me the mean temperature of the World today
Peter Bottomley (Con)
Answer to question 1 - b, yes but with reservations
Answer to question 2 - b, In some way
Answer to question 3 – Sustainable development has little meaning
Further comments:
Good luck
David Chaytor MP (Lab)
Answer to question 1 : c – Does not support airport expansion
Answer to question 2: c - Makes achievement of these targets impossible
Answer to question 3: e –does not believe that that airport expansion is sustainable.
Philip Davies MP (Conservative)
Answer to question 1 - a, yes
Answer to question 2 - b, In some way
Answer to question 3 – c, Total CO2 emissions per passenger will go down
Norman Baker (Lib Dem)
Answer to question 1 - c, Does not support airport expansion
Answer to question 2, half way between b and c, i.e. halfway between In some way impacts the Stern recommendations and makes achievement of the targets impossible.
Answer to question 3- e, Does not believe that airport expansion is sustainable.
Further comments:
Predict and provide has been discredited elsewhere, so why do airlines still stick to it?
