Plans to expand UK's Heathrow airport by architecture firm Grimshaw are in disarray as a court has deemed a third runway illegal due to climate change implications.
The UK's court of appeal ruled today that a new runway was illegal because government ministers had not taken into account the Paris Agreement ? a treaty between countries to try and keep global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
It is the first time a court has passed a ruling based on the Paris Agreement and potentially could set a precedent for challenges brought against projects with high emissions.
Environmental campaigners won appeal
UK architecture practice Grimshaw masterplanned a "sustainable but affordable" £14 billion extension to Heathrow in 2016. Renders showed a new terminal planted with trees underneath an undulating glass roof. Heathrow wants to expand capacity to 140 million passengers by 2050
Activists and local groups, including Plan B, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth opposed the third runway on environmental grounds. They successfully argued that the government had not assessed how the extension would be compatible with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
The UK has also set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
Third runway not ruled out
However, the judge did not rule out a third runway, but said it would have to be compliant with the government's climate change policies.
Heathrow said it would challenge the court's decision. Dezeen has rea...