The death of Heathrow's third runway sends a clear message ahead of Cop26 | Leo Murray

The landmark high court judgment will resound around the world and show Britain can lead in tackling the climate crisisBy some strange quirk of fate, it is exactly 12 years to the day since I, alongside fellow climate activists, climbed on to the roof of the House of Commons to protest against plans for a third runway at Heathrow. Today's high court judgment is a vindication of everything climate activists have been saying for more than a decade: Britain cannot honour its national commitment to tackle climate change at the same time as building a new runway at one of the busiest airports in the world.To be precise, the court did not quite say this. It ruled that ministers' failure to take the UK's climate change commitments into account rendered the Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS) - which effectively gave the green light to a third runway - unlawful. In order to be lawful, the ANPS would have to be rewritten to include a credible plan for squaring expansion with our commitment under the Paris Agreement to seek to limit global temperature rise to no more than 1.5C. The court was careful to clarify that it has no opinion on whether or not this is possible. Continue reading...