Now deemed "obsolete", the abandoned Roissy airport extension

The validity of this project was already in doubt at a time of the fight against global warming and when the prospects for relentless growth in passenger traffic were shattered under the effect of the pandemic. The Minister of Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, formalized his end in an interview with Le Monde.

The government asked the manager of the Paris airports, Groupe ADP, in which the State is the majority shareholder, "to abandon its project and present it with a new one, more consistent with its objectives of combating climate change and protection of the environment, ”Ms. Pompili told the Daily.

"Groupe ADP takes note of this request, which is one of the consequences of the Covid-19 crisis," said the manager. The company "undertakes a period of reflection on the challenges of the future of the airport", according to its CEO Augustin de Romanet.

This project of 7 to 9 billion euros involved the construction by 2037 of a fourth terminal at Charles de Gaulle airport in order to increase the reception capacity of 40 million passengers per year.

"It is an obsolete project, which no longer corresponded to the environmental policy of the government and to the requirements of a sector in full transformation, turned towards the green plane of tomorrow", estimated Mrs. Pompili.

According to Le Monde, "the government is now asking Groupe ADP to propose a completely different project, which will not be focused on increasing the capacity of Roissy", the second airport in Europe behind London-Heathrow before the crisis.

"We will always need planes, but it is a question of being in a more reasoned use of the air, and to achieve a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of the sector", according to Mrs. Pompili.

This announcement comes the day after the presentation by the government of its bill resulting from the proposals of the Citizen's Climate Convention, a text strongly criticized for its "lack of muscle" by part of the left and NGOs.

"Environmentalist victory"

This text "provides a framework for the development of airport capacities to make them compatible with our objectives in the fight against climate change" but underlines that "the adaptations and arrangements necessary for airports within their rights-of-way remain possible".

The environmental association Greenpeace found Thursday's announcement ambiguous and stressed on Twitter that "whatever the project, it is not acceptable to increase air traffic further".

The elected members of the Alternative Ecologist and Social Group of the Region, while saying they remained "vigilant", considered that the abandonment of the current project constituted "an ecological victory for Ile-de-France. It took a pandemic to bring down a project that has never been sustainable, nor compatible with France's commitments on the climate ”.

The boss of Medef Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux considered "a little premature" to have decided to draw a line on an additional terminal. "I would have understood the suspension. Because objectively, air traffic, we all see it (...) it is no longer the growth that we imagined two years ago or a few years ago," he said. he declared on France Inter.

The global health crisis, which has reduced air traffic to the minimum, in particular long-haul travel, has indeed cast doubt on a continuous increase in the flow of travelers and therefore the need to adapt infrastructure. .

The project for the new "T4" terminal had already suffered a setback in July 2020 when the Environmental Authority noted that "the equation to be resolved" between the increase in flights, road traffic and compliance with the international objectives of the France in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions was "not fully described or posed".

In January 2020, 62 mayors of Ile-de-France had taken a stand against the extension of Roissy.

Doubtful NGOs

A group of NGOs opposed to the construction of a fourth terminal at Roissy airport on Thursday demanded "guarantees" from the government after the announcement of the abandonment of the project, worrying about a possible increase despite everything capacity of the airport.

In an interview with Le Monde on Thursday, the Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili announced that the government has asked the manager of Paris airports, ADP Groupe, in which the State is the majority shareholder, "to abandon its project and to present it with a new one, more consistent with its objectives of combating climate change and protecting the environment ".

"The associations take note of this declaration, but are worried about the announcement effect and wonder about the content of the + new project +, as well as the legal guarantees provided so that there is no increase in the reception capacities of Roissy, while the government declares itself open to this possibility ", reacted in a press release the collective No at Terminal 4, Greenpeace France, Notre affaires à tous, Alternatiba Paris or even the Climate Action Network.

"The question of extending the capacity of Roissy airport remains unanswered", continue the organizations, who believe that the new Climate Bill deemed not ambitious enough by the NGOs does not provide sufficient guarantees to prevent the extensions. airports in general.

In a separate reaction on Twitter, Greenpeace goes further. "This false announcement on Roissy orchestrated by the government, when the discounted text of the Climate Law is presented, is scandalous!", Estimated the NGO, denouncing a "" green rag "waved by Barbara Pompili" for us force them to look elsewhere and try to build up a text that is flush with the daisies ".

ANV-COP 21, for its part, congratulated itself on a "victory". But "the battle against major airport projects, including at Roissy, is not over," the NGO added on Twitter.