Climate activists just blocked plans to expand Heathrow, one of the world's biggest airports

The British government's contentious plans to build a third runway at London's Heathrow Airport have been blocked by an appeals court on environmental grounds, in a landmark victory for climate campaigners. Judges in the closely-watched case at London's Court of Appeal said the UK government, which threw its support behind the proposal, had failed to take into account what impact the move would have on Britain's commitments under the Paris Agreement. The decision could scupper plans to expand one of the world's busiest airports, and was celebrated on the court's steps on Thursday by a number of climate groups that had brought the legal action against the UK's Transport Secretary. "We have not found that a national policy statement supporting this project is necessarily incompatible with the United Kingdom's commitment to reducing carbon emissions and mitigating climate change under the Paris Agreement, or with any other policy the Government may adopt or international obligation it may undertake," the judges wrote in their ruling. "The Paris Agreement ought to have been taken into account by the Secretary of State... and an explanation given as to how it was taken into account, but it was not," they added. The accord pushes signatories to reduce their carbon output and halt global warming below 2C by the end of the century...MORE