6 Feb '22

Flight Free Australia says Melbourne Airport misleads the public on new Third Runway emissions

February 6, 2022

MDP

(Media release)

3 February 2022

Flight Free Australia warns that the proposed new runway at Melbourne Airport will enable even more global warming each year than Australia’s dirtiest power station, AGL’s Loy Yang.

Compared with over 18 million tonnes CO2-e from AGL Energy Limited’s Loy Yang, total annual warming from Third Runway flights will be roughly 20 million tonnes CO2-e (1). This is roughly twenty times the 1 million tonnes CO2-e that Melbourne Airport acknowledges, because it only counts emissions during takeoff and landing (2).

Governments around the world agree we should avoid of more than 1.5ºC of warming, which is fast approaching (3). Our own federal government says it is aiming for emissions cuts of 26-28% by 2030, and most Australians are calling for more significant cuts (4). “Yet,” says Flight Free Australia spokesperson Mark Carter, “at the most critical stage of the climate emergency, Melbourne Airport is proposing to increase its flight emissions by 55%.”

Climate-concerned Victorians will be asking the state government how such emissions increases align with its emissions reduction targets.

Around the world airport expansions and new runway plans are no longer being allowed to ignore the cost of the emissions they create. They are being opposed, paused and stopped.

Recently in France, Marseille Provence Airport was forced to revisit expansion plans, after the environment authority questioned how they fit with France’s climate targets (5). And last year, because of their emissions, France banned short domestic flights to destinations a train could reach in under 2.5 hours (6).

In England last month, Liverpool Airport’s expansion plans were thrown in doubt after city councillors agreed to review policies relating to any future extensions (7), and Lord Deben, the chair of the UK’s Climate Change Committee, which advises government, said “There is not any space for airport expansion” (8).

And last month it was revealed that Amsterdam Schiphol Airport might be required to reduce flight numbers because nitrogen oxide emissions are too high (9).

Unfortunately, aviation is the most emissions intensive industry, per kilometre and per hour. And the additional flights taking off on the new Third Runway will not be emissions free. Electric aircraft, for flights under 1,000 km, may be in service by 2050, but they won’t be emissions free until the electric grid is fully decarbonised (10).

Mr Carter said, “It seems like Melbourne Airport is saying that life as we know it can’t go on without more and more flights. Whereas physical reality, if we care to look, is telling us that life as we know it can’t go on with more and more flights. Right now the Great Barrier Reef is in its death spiral and other tipping points to unstoppable warming are at hand.” (11)

He also questioned Melbourne Airport passenger growth projections. “They seem to be from another time, pre-Covid,” he said, “taking inadequate account of Covid-induced business flight demand reductions, of Covid-induced international holiday flight wariness, and of climate-induced flight cancellations as tarmac temperatures more frequently exceed 40ºC and make the air too thin for take-off.” (12)

With the International Energy Agency (IEA) saying investors should not fund new fossil fuel projects, the fifteen industry super funds with shares in Melbourne Airport can expect to come under pressure from members asking them how funding more emissions aligns with fund sustainability commitments. Furthermore, the funds will be aware that the security of their aviation infrastructure investments will decline when any prudential assessments reveal their at-risk status from global heating (13).

Flight Free Australia is asking all Victorians concerned about rising emissions to respond to the invitation for feedback on the Third Runway Major Development Plan on the Melbourne Airport website, with their objections.

A website, no3rdtullarunway.net.au, to assist climate concerned Victorians in responding to The Melbourne Airport Third Runway Major Development Plan, will be launched later this month.

Contact:

Mark Carter

for Flight Free Australia, a climate campaign raising awareness of aviation’s contribution to global heating.

Email: mcarter@flightfree.net.au

Mobile: 0419 034 567

Website: flightfree.net.au

1: According to the MDP, a 3rd runway will enable an additional 136,500 flights per year, a 43% increase on the yet-to-be-reached flight capacity of existing runways, or a 55% increase on the pre-Covid 246,450 flights in 2018–19 (Source: https://www.melbourneairport.com.au/getmedia/fe596403-54d7-4b1d-b1d2-984613fff492/Why_we_need_a_3rd_runway.pdf.aspx ). In 2018-19 CO2 emissions from all flights departing Melbourne Airport were 4,650,000 t CO2 (Source: https://airporttracker.org ). Because CO2 emissions contribute just a third of a flight’s warming, the total warming from these departing flights is 4,650,000 t x3, or 13,950,000 t “CO2-e” (Source: https://stay-grounded.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/SG_Factsheet_Non-CO2_2020.pdf ). So the total warming from all flights enabled by the two runways at Melbourne Airport in 2018-19 is twice 13,950,000 x 2 t “CO2-e”, presuming departure flights are half the total of arriving and departing. Now if total flights increase by 55%, then total annual warming roughly does too, to 21,622,500 t CO2-e. Meanwhile Scope 1 emissions in 2018/19 from AGL Energy Limited’s Loy Yang Power Station and Mine, were 18,544,718 tonnes CO2-e (Source: http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/NGER/National%20greenhouse%20and%20energy%20reporting%20data/electricity-sector-emissions-and-generation-data/electricity-sector-emissions-and-generation-data-2019-20?Paged=TRUE&p_ID=240&View=%7b99112075%2dD30F%2d4B8B%2dB0F6%2d30051836B0A2%7d&PageFirstRow=241

2: https://media.caapp.com.au/pdf/a2gbuy/a2140daa-872c-49be-8b85-c9abb8649790/MA9223%20M3R%20Greenhouse%20Gas%20Emissions%20.pdf

3: https://www.climaterealitycheck.net

4: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/12/guardian-essential-poll-most-australians-want-morrison-to-set-a-higher-emissions-reduction-target

5: https://www.climatechangenews.com/2019/07/30/marseille-airport-expansion-stalled-climate-grounds

6: https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/french-lawmakers-approve-ban-short-domestic-flights-2021-04-11

7: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-60149341

8: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/22/cleanup-cost-of-heathrow-third-runway-doubles-to-100bn-mps-told

9: https://nos.nl/artikel/2408710-grote-zorgen-kabinet-over-schiphol-aantal-vluchten-mogelijk-fors-omlaag (via Google Translate)

10: https://stay-grounded.org/greenwashing/#factsheet

11: http://www.climatecodered.org/2022/01/have-tipping-points-already-been-passed_28.html

12: https://interestingengineering.com/why-planes-cant-take-off-when-its-too-hot

https://actu.fr/occitanie/toulouse_31555/toulouse-des-avions-cloues-au-sol-a-cause-des-temperatures-cette-etude-menee-avec-airbus-qui-inquiete_43270663.html