Agenda item

A summary of the Manston Airport emission report published by RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP) in May 2023.

 Dr Hannah Scott referred to the Manston Airport Emissions Report which had been published and shared prior to the meeting. Dr Hannah Scott read this report using a powerpoint presentation to illustrate. The full report is linked to the agenda title above and a summary is set out below:

·  The report summarised the following points regarding Manston Airport:

1.  Emissions

2.  Impact of the airport’s emissions on Thanet’s Carbon footprint

3.  Aircraft Emissions

4.  Offsetting emissions

5.  Cost of reducing emissions

6.  RSP’s Carbon Minimisation Action Plan

7.  UK commitment to climate change

·  Thanet District Council keeps a watching brief on the carbon emission plan of Manston Airport as agreed and detailed in the Net Zero Strategy (p8). The purpose of this report is to update the Climate Change Cabinet Advisory Group (CAG) on the emissions report by Manston airport.

·  It was predicted that the majority of construction work to Manston Airport would be completed by year two in time for the airport opening.

·  The tables in the report, taken from RiverOak Strategic Partners, emphasised the projected emissions in year 2, and additionally in year 20, which had been the predicted peak forecasted year.

·  The predicted total embodied emissions stood at 636,000 tonnes of CO2.

·  The emissions released from the day to day running of the airport on the ground (Airport operations energy use - middle of the table) will be 9,000 tonnes of CO2e per year. Ground support equipment will also release 400 tonnes of CO2e in year 2 and 1,800 tonnes of CO2e in year 20. RSP has committed to become net zero in their on the ground operations within 5 years of opening (by 2030), which will address these operational emissions.

·  Emissions from the extra road traffic was estimated to be 13,900 tonnes per year. This had the potential to increase to 36,000 tonnes of CO2 in year 20 in response to increased business.

·  The increase in emissions within Thanet’s boundary specifically was not calculated due to the routes of extra vehicles not being concretely set out at the time of the meeting.

·  The aviation sources would produce the majority of the emissions. This was predicted to stand at 221,800 tonnes of CO2 from year 2, with the potential to increase to 730,000 tonnes of CO2 per year by year 20 of the airport being in operation.

·  Even though the aircraft emissions do not come under Thanet’s carbon footprint, in order to understand what these figures mean, it is useful to compare them to emissions for the whole of the district of Thanet.

·  In year 2, the aircraft from Manston will create more emissions (221,800 tonnes of CO2) annually than any sector in the district of Thanet. The aircraft will create over 60% more emissions than all the transport in Thanet (134,600 tonnes of CO2) when the airport first opens.

·  According to the RSP report, in year 20 of operations, due to the predicted increase in flights, the aircraft will create significantly more emissions than the whole of Thanet from all sectors put together (730,100 tonnes of CO2 from the aircraft compared to 499,100 tonnes of CO2 from the whole of Thanet).

·  Simply as an illustration of the volume of emissions created, the report set out an analysis of offsetting the aircraft emissions. It was noted that to offset new emissions from the aircraft in the second year, 1,109 hectares of woodland needed to be planted that year and every year after. This was the equivalent of 1,478 football pitches each year.

·  If the aircraft created 221,800 tonnes of emissions each year for 18 years, 19,962 hectares of woodland would need to be planted to fully offset these emissions (1,109 hectares x 18 years). Thanet is 10,000 hectares in size, so a woodland area equivalent to twice the size of Thanet would be needed to offset these new aircraft emissions.

·  The figures are simply as a tool to understand what the extra aircraft emissions translate to in terms of woodland offsetting. This level of offsetting would not be stipulated and it is not clear to Thanet District Council what level of offsetting or mitigation will be stipulated as yet.

·  RSP has stated that a Carbon Minimisation Action Plan would be developed in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions which would be associated with the airport.

·  The effect of the extra emissions from the aircraft on the government’s sixth carbon budget, with or without a Manston Airport Carbon Minimisation Plan, is not currently clear to TDC.

Members commented and asked the following questions:

·  The report emphasised why Manston Airport was not a good idea when the council was supposed to be cutting down on emissions.

·  Questioning was raised regarding whether the report could be sent to the youth council and schools, in order to communicate the report wider.

·  There was no clear approach to achieve carbon offsetting.

·  It was of great importance to monitor and address the positives of the airport, as well as the negatives.

·  Questioning was raised regarding whether RiverOak could be invited to a future Climate Change meeting to address the council.

Dr Hannah Scott and Hannah Thorpe responded with the following points:

·  Thanet District Council had a clear mandate regarding cutting down on emissions for emissions within their control.

·  The TDC mandate on the airport was to keep a watching brief on their carbon emission plan as agreed in the TDC Net Zero Strategy. The strategy states:: “The UK Government is responsible for the reduction of emissions from airports, ports and military transport. For example, the Government’s approach for achieving net zero aviation by 2050 is set out in their Jet Zero Strategy. TDC has no powers with regards to these emissions however we will keep a watching brief on Manston Airport’s adherence to their low emission plan.”

·  Wider communications by TDC in relation to this report should wait until the outcome of the DCO has been determined. 

·  Offsetting was considered tricky. It is questionable if the UK has enough land to offset all the emissions that UK companies want to offset.

·  The offsetting example in the report is simply as an illustration of the volume of the emissions - it is not specifically the volume that the airport will need to offset. This is unknown currently.

·  It was requested to invite RiverOak to a future meeting to address the council.

Recommendation

Members of the committee agreed to invite RSP to a future council meeting, pending correct procedural rules being followed.