A landmark ruling that found Heathrow’s third runway to be unlawful on climate crisis grounds has been overturned by the Supreme Court this morning.

The Supreme Court has ruled that government policy supporting Heathrow expansion was lawful, overturning a ruling that deemed the plans to be illegal because ministers had not fully considered the government’s obligations to tackle the climate crisis.

At 9.45 this morning, the UK’s highest court unanimously approved an appeal from Heathrow Airport Ltd to overturn a decision made by the Court of Appeal in February of this year.

Following a case brought by Friends of the Earth and legal action charity Plan B Earth, the Court of Appeal found expansion plans to be unlawful because the former transport minister Chris Grayling had failed to fully take into account the government’s obligations under the Paris Agreement.

However, today High Court judge Lord Sales said Mr Grayling “did take the Paris Agreement into account and was not legally required to give it more weight than he decided was appropriate”.

Speaking today, Will Rundle, head of legal at Friends of the Earth, said: “This judgment is no ‘green light’ for expansion. It makes clear that full climate considerations remain to be addressed and resolved at the planning stage. Heathrow expansion remains very far from certain and we now look forward to stopping the third runway in the planning arena.

“With ever stronger climate policy commitments that Heathrow must meet, it remains unlikely it will ever get planning permission for the third runway. Friends of the Earth will fight it all the way. We are in this for people everywhere facing climate breakdown right now, and for the next generation who are being left to inherit a world changed for the worse.”

More to follow