aviation

Gordon Brown tomorrow faces his first test since pledging to put Britain at the forefront of efforts to combat climate change. A proposal to build the UK's first coal fired power station in over thirty years (1) will land on his desk on the same day his government launches a consultation on expansion at Heathrow airport.

The outcome of Brown's decisions on new coal and new runways will determine whether Britain can meet its long-term global warming targets, which the Prime Minister on Monday suggested would be revised upwards to an 80 per cent cut in emissions by 2050.

Eurostar action celebrates new rail line, but damns PM for Heathrow plans

Greenpeace climbers dodged police and security guards this morning before scaling the front of St Pancras station and dropping a massive banner emblazoned with the word 'YES!' in three metre high letters.

Commenting on plans by the government to off-set its emissions from aviation, Charlie Kronick of Greenpeace said:

A new transport strategy, to be announced by the government tomorrow (Tuesday), will see a huge increase in emissions of greenhouse gases because the government will still not stand up to the aviation industry, according to Greenpeace. The document is expected to fail to rule out new runways and airports but support bringing aviation into the European Emissions Trading Scheme by 2012 and call for increased use of existing runways.