The boss of Birmingham International Airport said he has a problem with the science behind climate change as he defended the airport’s plan to extend its runway.
Speaking at The Prince’s May Day Summit on Climate Change, Birmingham International Airport chief executive Paul Kehoe told delegates how he believed the controversial 400m extension was necessary for the city’s future economy.
Although he said he was not a “climate change apologist” Mr Kehoe said he had “a problem with climate change and the science and technology behind it. There is a conditionality to all the claims,” he added.
He said it was not just carbon dioxide emissions that needed to be taken into account but also emissions from nitrous oxides and water vapours.
Mr Kehoe told an audience of local businesses at the event, organised by Business in the Community, that he did not know what the carbon footprint of the airport was.
He said that the extension to the airport by an extra 400 metres would bring a £2 billion contribution to the region’s GDP.
“Great cities need great connectivity. We are going to deliver the global connectivity that this city needs.”
He added: “I’m positive about what we are doing. I would not wish to say to our children that I am rationing you – who is going to make that decision?”
Plans to extend the runway at the airport finally got the go-ahead earlier this month from Solihull Council after the airport had to resubmit its proposed Section 106 agreement, which explained how it planned to counteract noise pollution and to protect the environment.
Measures include limits on night flights, noise control, public transport plans and a 20-year annual £10,000 tree planting scheme.
Expansion of the runway will enable bigger jets to fly non-stop to long-haul destinations, such as China, India and the west coast of America.
But the Government’s drive to extend the capacity of the UK’s airports, which includes plans for new runways at Heathrow and Stansted, has come in for a barrage of criticism from the green lobby, which says they seriously undermine the Government’s own ambitious climate change targets to cut emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.
The Prince’s May Day Summit in Birmingham was part of a nationwide series of events bringing together businesses committed to taking action on climate change.
Other speakers at the event, which took place at 11 BrindleyPlace, included Andrew Whitehead, partner and head of energy and utilities at Martineau and Coun Len Gregory, cabinet member for transportation and street services.
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