Climate campaigners stage online protest against Gatwick Airport expansion plans
Gatwick wants to convert its emergency runway into a second
Last updated 6th Nov 2021
A group of Climate campaigners protested on Zoom today as Gatwick plans to bring its emergency runway into daily use as a second one.
The group, Communities Against Gatwick Noise Emission (CAGNE) held an online protest as part of demonstrations at 10 UK airports.
CAGNE are speaking at the Friends of the Earth event in Tunbridge Wells in this afternoon as Gatwick's second runway would add, 1 million tonnes of extra carbon a year plus greenhouse gases and particles to the growth from the main runway.
Stay Grounded, organisers of the joint event, warn that no one should be fooled by attempts to ‘greenwash’ aviation. They say new technologies and ‘sustainable’ fuels will take decades to be used on commercial, long-haul flights - and it's these flights that cause most aviation’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The protests are part of the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice, coinciding with UN Climate Conference COP 26 in Glasgow and organised by the Stay Grounded network.
The government’s advisory body, the Climate Change Committee, recommends NO net expansion of UK airports and has repeatedly warned the government those technological solutions alone will be insufficient to make the aviation sector net zero by 2050.
As climate demands rapidly scale up, the aviation sector and the government are redoubling their greenwashing efforts.
Sally Pavey from CAGNE told Greatest Hits Radio Sussex:
"We are giving people a voice, we’ve found that this expansion at Gatwick Airport, so many people are unaware of what the Airport want to do and that is a second runway by the back door.
"We hope that more people can join us and feel safe in their own environment and come out and say no, I don’t support this, this is wrong, it is wrong for our planet, it is wrong for our local communities at this time.
"We have to congratulate the industry, they may be late coming to the table, but they are no talking about what we can do to replace fossil fuel. But there is no alternative currently and Gatwick Airport are seeking to use this second runway by 2029."