Barnes sits under the Heathrow flight paths, so the Climate Change Committee's verdict this week matters here. The government's statutory climate adviser said on 16 September that there is "no credible pathway" for a third runway within the UK's climate commitments under current policies, and that expansion could only be squared with the carbon budgets if ministers forced aviation to reach zero emissions by 2050. Aviation emissions have more than doubled since 1990 while the rest of the economy has halved them; Heathrow accounts for around half the aviation total.
Richmond Council, which fought the last expansion plan in court, welcomed the report, its leader saying ministers cannot approve a runway on the hope that someone else deals with the emissions later. That is the right reading of it. The pressure now falls on the draft national policy statement, whose climate test the committee says must name the 2050 target explicitly — and on whether ministers do it before the document reaches Parliament.
- The Climate Change Committee said there is 'no credible pathway' for expansion of Heathrow Airport within the UK's climate commitments under current policies.
- The committee said expansion could only be compatible with the UK's carbon budgets and net zero target if the government introduced robust policies requiring aviation to reach zero emissions by 2050, and made the statement on 16 September 2026.
- Aviation emissions have more than doubled since 1990 while wider UK economy emissions have halved, and Heathrow is responsible for around half of UK aviation emissions.
- The committee said the climate test in the draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement must be strengthened to explicitly include the 2050 net zero target.
- Richmond Council's leader said ministers cannot approve a third runway on the hope that future technology and future governments will deal with the emissions later.
Every factual claim in this story is linked to the evidence behind it. Where the newsroom has added judgement or framing, it is listed separately. Sources accessed 20 September 2026.
- www.richmond.gov.uk/news/news_september_2026/heathrow_expansion_climate_report (Council news reporting Climate Change Committee assessment)
Claim by claim (6 facts, 2 editorial judgements)
- The Climate Change Committee said there is 'no credible pathway' for expansion of Heathrow Airport within the UK's climate commitments under current policies. — Council news reporting Climate Change Committee assessment, 2026-09-17“Richmond Council’s Leader Gareth Roberts has enthusiastically welcomed the Climate Change Committee's report which asserts there is “no credible pathway” for expansion Of Heathrow Airport within the U”
- The committee said expansion could only be compatible with the UK's carbon budgets and net zero target if the government introduced robust policies requiring aviation to reach zero emissions by 2050, and made the statement on 16 September 2026. — Council news reporting Climate Change Committee assessment, 2026-09-17“The independent statutory body said yesterday that Heathrow expansion could only be compatible with the UK’s carbon budgets and Net Zero target if the Government introduced robust policies requiring a”
- Aviation emissions have more than doubled since 1990 while wider UK economy emissions have halved, and Heathrow is responsible for around half of UK aviation emissions. — Council news reporting Climate Change Committee assessment, 2026-09-17“The committee’s report highlights that aviation emissions have more than doubled since 1990, while emissions from the wider UK economy have halved. Heathrow is currently responsible for around half of”
- The committee said the climate test in the draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement must be strengthened to explicitly include the 2050 net zero target. — Council news reporting Climate Change Committee assessment, 2026-09-17“It also warned that the climate test in the draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement must be strengthened to explicitly include the UK’s 2050 Net Zero target.”
- Richmond Council's leader said ministers cannot approve a third runway on the hope that future technology and future governments will deal with the emissions later. — Council news reporting Climate Change Committee assessment, 2026-09-17““Ministers cannot approve a third runway on the hope that future technology, future governments and other sectors will somehow deal with the emissions later.”
- Richmond Council was part of the legal challenge to the previous Airports National Policy Statement. — Council news reporting Climate Change Committee assessment, 2026-09-17“The Council was part of the legal challenge to the previous Airports National Policy Statement, arguing that ministers had failed to properly consider the UK’s climate commitments when backing expansi”
- Judgement: The council's reading of the report is the right one, and the pressure now falls on whether ministers rewrite the climate test before the policy statement goes to Parliament.
- Judgement: The finding matters in Barnes because the area lies under Heathrow flight paths and is affected by aircraft noise and air quality.
Photograph: James Petts from London, England, CC BY-SA 2.0 · source · licence
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