Plan B Earth v Secretary of State for Transport
1 May 2019
High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, Planning Court, Divisional Court
Citation: [2019] EWHC 1070 (Admin)
Judges: Hickinbottom and Holgate
Date: 1 May 2019
This matter concerned the expansion of Heathrow International Airport. Plan B Earth, Friends of the Earth and others argued that the Secretary of State for Transport’s national policy statement suporting the expansion of Heathrow violated the Planning Act, 2008 and the Human Rights Act, 1998 on account of him not taking into consideration the Paris Agreement and climate change more broadly. The Court however found that the Secretary had any obligations to consider the Paris Agreement climate targets, the science underlying those climate targets, or a more stringent potential future climate target necessary for meeting the Paris Agreement.