Responding to Birmingham Airport’s proud declaration that it is going to save 22 tonnes of CO2 a year by installing solar panels on its terminal roof, Birmingham Friends of the Earth campaigner Joe Peacock said:
“These savings need to be put into context. It is 22 tonnes compared to 900 000 emitted by the operations of the airport overall.
“If they were really serious about saving CO2 the only way to do this would be to have fewer flights, but that conflicts with their business model rather than installing panels that will make them money.
“There is nothing wrong with having solar panels on their roof, but it is totally disingenuous to claim to be concerned about reducing the CO2 emissions of their operations when this action accounts for about 0.003% of them.
“It is rather like the morbidly obese gourmand giving up a weekly tube of Smarties and pretending this will help him lose weight.”
More information on the carbon emissions of the airport can be found on the Airport Watch website: http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/?p=1007#CO2
