Question
How will we actually measure that the Heathrow expansion is actually Carbon neutral; including the extra airplanes and additional petrol powered vehicles dropping people off or picking them up?
Minutes:
Question
How will we actually measure that the Heathrow expansion is actually Carbon neutral; including the extra airplanes and additional petrol powered vehicles dropping people off or picking them up?
Answer
Thanks for your question.
The Council has previously made public that the support to the expansion of Heathrow Airport is conditional on the need to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases including carbon emissions and to demonstrate a clear pathway to carbon neutrality by all means which may include offsetting. The need for Western Rail Access and associated improvements to the Twyford Station area have also been identified as essential for the Borough to ensure that there is less dependence on private motor vehicles to access Heathrow from Wokingham Borough and beyond.
The Council has requested that Heathrow Airport demonstrate through monitoring (at a suitable location within the Borough) that any increase in the proposed number of overflights in Wokingham Borough will have no adverse effect on the health and quality of life of our residents.
In regards to carbon on the ground, Heathrow has publicly committed to transition their fleet of cars and small vans to be fully electric or plug in hybrid by 2025. To ensure vehicles at Heathrow meet ultralow emissions standards by 2025, Heathrow is currently investing in building a high-density Electric Vehicle charging network to support their business partners as well as introducing an airside Ultra-Low Emissions Zone from 2025. The Council will closely monitor the realisation of these commitments and will call for action should the commitment not be met.
Wokingham Borough Council is currently developing an electric vehicle strategy that will set the right policies and incentives to accelerate the adoption of zero carbon vehicles within the Borough. This seeks to decarbonise carbon emissions from transport over the next ten years by working in collaboration with our residents and local businesses.
Our annual report on climate emergency includes the carbon footprint for the Council; it will show specifically the carbon dioxide emissions from transport. However, these emissions report does not include scope three emissions, which relate to air travel.
Supplementary Question:
Since we are supposedly measuring these, what are we going to do about that if they do not meet it, and second of all how are you going to stop all these cars from coming in there that are petrol based, and the planes which are petrol based, unless you are making all electric cars and all electric planes only?
Supplementary Answer:
As I said, we are not referring to the type 3 emissions that come from the aeroplanes. It is the responsibility of the aircraft companies and the airlines to take responsibility for their own emissions. We cannot take responsibility for them. In terms of the number of cars, we can put in place strategies locally to ensure that we progress to a low emission vehicle place as soon as we possibly can for ourselves and for our residents.
All we can do is take responsibility for the areas that we have control over and that means taking responsibility for working with our residents and helping them to progress to low emission fleets and then demonstrating to the likes of Heathrow and other airports, that it can be done and that we can lead by example and they should be following us.