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Climate Change activists are claiming a victory today as BAA win a much weaker injunction than they had hoped for. BAA were seeking an injunction against protesters which, according to the protesters, would stop 5 million people from travelling on public transport throughout the UK.

Plane Stupid, a small activist group with a history of disruption, were the main target of the injunction. They are planning a “Camp for Climate Action” at Heathrow which is billed as “Eight days of low-impact living, debates, learning skills, and high-impact direct action tackling the root causes of climate change.” [Air travel].

In response the the planned camp, BAA denied that they were seeking to ban 5 million people from travelling and said that they were happy for protesters to protest in designated areas, but “must not be a disruption” to the airport's activities.

According to Joss Garman of the Climate Action Group, speaking outside the High Courts, “BAA have lost and lost badly.” Since the injunction only targets one group, and that a small group, and a handful of named individuals, the opportunity is left wide-open for other protesters not formally part of Plane Stupid to protest.

Plane Stupid were banned because there were fears that they would try to blockade the airport. Their website makes it clear that they intended direct action, but other than saying that they would not be blocking the runways they do not say what kind of action they were intending. It remains to be seen what kind of direct action will take place next week.

Environmental groups are becoming increasingly concerned about emissions from aircraft. Although the UK's aircraft CO2 emissions are less than the CO2 emissions from Britain's cars, the air transport sector is a fast expanding sector that will soon take their emissions past car emissions. Short-haul flights are becoming ever more popular due to their cheapness, but per passenger per kilometre they are also the most poluting. There are also concerns that emissions at altitude are also more harmful that emissions from the ground.