Our Planet Climate and Geopolitics
Heathrow has announced a multi-billion pound expansion programme, weeks after Rachel Reeves declared her support for a third runway.
That runway will form part of wider plans that include expansions to existing terminals and improved infrastructure to handle more passengers.
But the most important element of this week’s announcement is about steel.
New runways require a lot of it, primarily for rebar to reinforce concrete below the tarmac. Heathrow thinks it will need 400,000 tonnes for the new runway – eight times as much as went into building the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Heathrow will prioritise the use of UK-made steel, creating thousands of jobs and providing some respite for manufacturers nervous about American steel tariffs.
What Heathrow still hasn’t done is table a viable plan to keep down climate emissions. Spoiler alert: at least for now, sustainable aviation fuel won’t cut it.
