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The UK government’s decision to allow a third runway to be built at London’s Heathrow airport has been found to be unlawful because of its failure to consider the Paris climate deal.

Environmental campaigners, the mayor of London Sadiq Khan and several of the city’s local authorities brought a legal challenge against the .

They argued that the government had failed to account for the Paris climate agreement’s goals to hold global temperature rises to 1.5°C or well below 2°C. Today, the UK Court of Appeal upheld that challenge.

“The Paris [climate] agreement ought to have been taken into consideration by the secretary of state,” .

The controversial expansion at Heathrow has been criticised on the grounds it would make the UK’s legally-binding carbon targets hard to meet and endanger the capital’s local air quality.

The ruling is groundbreaking, says Plan B, the UK charity that led the successful challenge with Friends of the Earth. “The judgement might seem like bad news for businesses and investors in the carbon economy, who will have to reconcile their plans with the 1.5˚C limit.

“But really it is good news for everyone, since all of us – including businesses and investors – depend on maintaining the conditions which keep the planet habitable,” said Plan B’s Tim Crosland in a statement.

Green groups including WWF and Greenpeace welcomed the outcome, while the Liberal Democrat party said the ruling should be used as an opportunity to cancel the plan to build a third runway.

Heathrow airport says it will appeal to the Supreme Court. New Ů��С��Ƶ has contacted the Department for Transport for comment.

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