Contents Page

Summary of Environmental Effects

Climate Change and Carbon

Introduction

Chapter 15:  Climate Change and Carbon of the PEIR evaluates the resilience of the design, construction and operation of the Project to potential climate change impacts; the combined effects of the Project and potential climate change impacts on the receiving environment; and the likely effect of the Project on greenhouse gas emissions.

Assessment Methodology

Climate Change Resilience and In-combination Climate Change Impacts

Information regarding current and projected future climate conditions has been used in assessment of the following:

The greenhouse gas assessment considers the emissions of greenhouse gases arising from the construction and operation of the Project, some of which are emitted within the site boundary, but the majority of which are emitted outside of the boundary. This covers both construction and operational emissions as summarised in the list below:

Current Baseline Environment

Climate Change Resilience and In-combination Climate Change Impacts

Information regarding historical climate conditions at Gatwick Airport was obtained from the national observed climate data sets. All the data for the current baseline were obtained from this source. Baseline data collection included climate averages and information regarding occurrence of extreme weather events, including hot days, frost days, heavy rainfall and dry spells. 

Greenhouse Gas Assessment

The baseline refers to Gatwick Airport’s greenhouse gas emissions in the calendar year 2018. It draws together information from a range of documents, analyses and sources.

Mitigation Measures

Mitigation measures to reduce greenhouse gas during construction and operation would be implemented across a wide range of emissions sources, including design optimisation, energy strategy, surface access strategies, and airport operations. Best practice construction methods will be followed to mitigate potential impacts from climate change.

In addition to GAL’s existing net zero carbon commitments, as set out within their Decade of Change document, GAL are currently developing a detailed Carbon and Climate Change Action Plan, to enable the airport to continue to reduce carbon emissions and to deliver sustainable development.

Potential Significant Effects

The climate change resilience assessment identified several risks as being high or very high during the construction and operational phase of the Project, for example the increased number of very hot days brings the risk of overheating in temporary building accommodation for construction workers, or passengers and staff in operational terminal buildings. A number of measures have been designed as embedded mitigation as part of the other environmental topics which would also reduce the potential for impacts in terms of resilience (eg flood risk mitigation). With such measures in place, significant effects are not likely.

No significant effects have been identified through the in-combination climate change impacts assessment for the construction or operational phases of the Project.

The greenhouse gas assessment has assessed the calculated greenhouse gas emissions arising from the Project and confirms that these would be significant, in line with current guidance which considers all new emissions arising from development as significant. The Project would incorporate a range of embedded environmental design measures that would contribute positively to mitigation of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the Project. Work to develop mitigation activities remains ongoing, and the impact of these on greenhouse gases will be included in the Environmental Statement.

Next steps will include close working with the Project design teams to confirm the adoption of mitigation measures through design of the airport facilities and highways infrastructure, optimisation of material sourcing and recycling of cut/fill materials, management of construction stage emission, and the adoption of the energy strategy to reduce emissions arising from airport operations. The opportunities to mitigate impacts of the Project through both construction and operation will be collated into the draft Carbon and Climate Change Action Plan, to be published as part of the application for development consent.

On the basis of the assessment undertaken to date it is expected that the Project would not have a material impact on the ability of Government to meet its carbon reduction targets, including carbon budgets as they stand at present.

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