Press Release - 10 December 2007

SSE supporters Didi Crump from Braintree and John Drake from Chelmsford at the Climate March

A contingent of forty Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) supporters joined a 6000-strong march and rally in central London last Saturday (8 December) calling for action on climate change.

The Campaign Against Climate Change London initiative coincided with events in 50 cities around the world designed to put pressure on the leaders from 200 nations at the United Nations Climate Talks in Bali to secure a meaningful successor to the Kyoto Protocol after it expires in 2012.

Carrying banners and placards, the SSE delegation braved wet and windy weather to highlight the environmental cost of the plans for Stansted Airport and the incongruity of Government policy on airport expansion at a time when people are being urged to take action to reduce their personal carbon footprint to help tackle climate change. Members from Braintree, Braughing, Broxbourne, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Saffron Walden and Ware attended, alongside those from the Stansted and Bishop's Stortford area.

At Stansted, proposals for expansion on the existing runway and a second runway would give rise to an extra seven million tonnes of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide annually. This is equivalent to the saving that could be achieved by replacing every conventional domestic light bulb in the country with low energy ones.

The SSE supporters walked in solidarity with people from other airport communities including Heathrow who are in the front line of expansion plans and who were also out in force at the march. Speakers addressing the rally which followed included MPs Chris Huhne (Liberal Democrat) and Michael Meacher (Labour), Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas and environmentalist George Monbiot.

SSE Campaign Director Carol Barbone commented: "While the outcome of the Bali talks will be of pivotal importance, the UK Government also needs to acknowledge that it must act swiftly and decisively on policy and legislation closer to home. The Climate Change Bill, currently passing through Parliament, excludes action to tackle aviation emissions, while the proposed EU Emissions Trading Scheme that the Government continues to claim is the answer to everything is now likely to be so watered down that it would have virtually no impact on reducing emissions over the longer term."

ENDS

More Photographs

FURTHER INFORMATION AND ADDITIONAL PICTURES FROM THE MARCH
Carol Barbone, Campaign Director, SSE: M 0777 552 3091, cbarbone@mxc.co.uk