Heathrow boss pledges growth from third runway will be carbon neutral

Heathrow's boss has pledged growth from the airport’s planned new runway will be carbon neutral.

John Holland-Kaye said the commitment to making the airport more environmentally friendly made financial sense as well as being "the right thing to do".

The plan also involves £500,000 funding for a new research centre aimed at minimising aircraft noise and pollution.

The airport CEO unveiled the Heathrow 2.0 strategy just days after MPs warned that more needed to be done to address the environmental impact of the proposed third runway.

Speaking at the British Chambers of Commerce conference in London, Mr Holland-Kaye said: "Today we are proud to announce our aspiration for the growth from our new runway to be carbon neutral.

"In effect, our goal is to decouple our airport's growth from climate change, something I'm not sure that we could have stood here five years ago and said, but today we are proud to commit to.

"This is not just the right thing to do, it also makes good business sense. It will enhance the skills of our people, help us to retain talent, reduce our operation costs and create a new covenant whereby the airport community and our local communities work together to improve the quality of life of local people - many of whom work at the airport.

"And for an airport flying passengers to all corners of the globe, surely it makes good business sense to preserve a world worth travelling."

The plan also involves at least halving by 2022 the number of late-running departures at night to reduce noise for local communities and a new research centre to fund measures to minimise aviation noise and carbon emissions.

Experts at the centre "will help to answer the things we can't yet answer in our sustainability plan", Mr Holland-Kaye said.

He said businesses should take the lead on the agenda: "If there's a risk that the political consensus on climate change and sustainability is under threat, then now is the time for us as business leaders to step forward."

The launch of the new strategy comes after a Commons Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) report last week said air quality, carbon emissions and aircraft noise must all be given further attention before expansion of the west London hub goes ahead.

In November 2016 the High Court ordered the Government to produce a modified air quality plan to deliver compliance with European Union pollution limits in the shortest possible time, with new measures due to be announced by April 24.

The EAC called on ministers to set out how the third runway project can go ahead without increasing the number of serious breaches of air quality limits.

Additional reporting from Press Association