R11 A3: No To Airport Expansions — Not in Barcelona, Not Anywhere

In the context of climate emergency, when science and activists worldwide are
urging for the decarbonisation of the global economy, the transport sector plays
a major role. Specifically, air transport requires a massive reformulation
effort. Despite the warnings —and obviousness— regarding the high impact of
aviation on the environment, the operators of several major European airports
are putting forward expansion proposals. Scaling up these facilities is in line
with a strategy of growth in the aviation sector that is in clear contradiction
with the need for decarbonisation. Once again, the economic powers and elites
are making profit at the expenses of our rights to live in a healthy
environment.

In Spain, the national airport operator AENA has put forward plans to expand
virtually all major Spanish airports. In the case of Barcelona - El Prat
Airport, the expansion project envisions a new terminal and the extension of one
the airport’s three runways, with the goal of reaching 70 million passengers per
year by 2030. The airport is located right by the Llobregat Delta, a space of
critical ecological importance within the dense, heavily urbanized Barcelona
conurbation. There are several swamps and two main lagoons around the airport
area, one of which would be removed to allocate the runway extension. Overall,
the Barcelona Airport expansion project would generate the following negative
impacts:

• Massive biodiversity loss, as 43 protected bird species, fish and reptiles
  would be deprived of their natural ecosystem

• Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions coming from airport operations would surge
  by 33%, which go in the opposite direction of international agreements to
  reduce drastically overall emissions by 2030

• Direct health impact due to air and noise pollution generated by airport
  activity, such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, as well as an
  impact on the mental health of airport workers, passengers, and nearby
  residents; also, an indirect, global health impact from increased GHG
  emissions contributing to climate change worldwide should be considered.

• 10 million additional tourists would visit Barcelona annually, further
  increasing pressure on public services, and speeding up gentrification,
  directly impacting on the inhabitants’ housing rights

• A model based on an unstoppable growth which benefits big companies
  fostering ecocide capitalism, undermining the very universal right to live
  in a habitable planet

• 1.7 billion euro would be lost to an unupdated and unsustainable transport
  system; instead this budget should be allocated to improve and expand the
  local rail network, with a focus on night trains and international
  connections—as of 2019, 54.5% of airport passengers could be provided with
  competitive rail alternatives

With this resolution, the Federation of Young European Greens:

• Call on the appropriate authorities and institutions to protect the
  environment and health by halting all expansion plans of all European
  airport operators, which constitute a threat for a green and just
  transition.

• Urge all European countries and institutions, specially those that are
  members of the European Union, to develop a competitive intra-european
  train network, creating new cross-border services through high-speed and
  night trains, with the goal of reducing airplane use.

• Urges the European Commission to halt all EU-funded subsidies to airlines
  and airport expansion projects of already developed airports

• Urges national European governments and European institutions to put
  forward a ban on air routes where a competitive rail alternative exists,
  as was already approved by France on national air routes where an
  alternative rail service with travel times under 2.5 hours is offered. Competitiveness shall also include an assessment based on costs alongside duration

• Call on the European Commission to create an air carbon tax that may be
  dynamically adjusted depending on the distance and the existence of
  competitive rail alternatives over the same route; the obtained revenue
  should be used to further develop competitive rail alternatives

• Call on civil society and local governments on showing their discontent
  with such projects and claim for a green and just transition