LETTER: Time to invest in green jobs

The Government’s decision to expand Heathrow Airport was last week ruled “unlawful” by the Court of Appeal, on climate change grounds, following successful legal challenges by Friends of the Earth and Plan B.

This is a massive win for our environment - the court found that the Paris Agreement on climate change had to be taken into account.

For years Heathrow bosses have been shouting from the rooftops that its expansion is essential for creating jobs and trade opportunities, but economic research by the New Economics Foundation shows a third runway would just divert investment and job opportunities away from regions outside the South East.

Pushing aviation expansion anywhere is incompatible with fixing the climate emergency.

Instead of fixating on huge, planet-wrecking airport expansion projects - whether Heathrow, Birmingham, Manchester or anywhere else - it’s time for attention and investment to be directed at creating local green jobs across the UK.

It’s a myth that fixing the climate crisis comes at the expense of job creation.

Renewable energy, clean transport, and research into sustainable materials all have the potential to create thousands of jobs so it’s time that they get proper government support.

Chris Crean, West Midlands regional campaign organiser at Friends of the Earth