Can we be green and rich?

In Paris in 2015 world leaders agreed on a binding commitment on climate change. They committed to keeping the increase in global temperatures to just 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Heathrow airport has been planning to expand by building a third runway. But last week environmentalists successfully challenged the third runway on the basis that it couldn’t demonstrate how the expansion of the airport was consistent with the UK government’s commitments on climate change. It’s the first major demonstration of the impact of the Paris climate accord on the UK’s CO2 emissions, and it has huge implications for future infrastructure projects.

What could the ruling mean for the future of the UK economy? We discuss with Mike Berners-Lee, a professor in the environment centre of Lancaster University, and Kingsmill Bond, an energy strategist at the financial think-tank Carbon Tracker.

Presenter: Mathew Price
Producers: Rory Galloway and Duncan Barber
Editor: Harriet Noble
Mixed by Emma Crowe