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Could Heathrow airport expansion ruling set a climate precedent? Jocelyn Timperley 10.03.2020 UK court declares planned third runway unlawful, the world’s first major legal ruling to be based on the Paris Agreement  A plane after taking off from Heathrow airport (Image: Alamy) Plans by the UK to expand its biggest airport have recently been declared unlawful because they failed to take the  Paris Agreement  into account. Climate activists had taken the government to court in a last-ditch effort to stop the building of a third runway at Heathrow, a major international airport situated to the west of London. The  ruling , by three Court of Appeal judges, said the Paris Agreement “ought to have been taken into account” when the government signed off its policy favouring the development in 2018, but was not. “The judgement criticised the government for failing to question how an increase in emissions from an expanded Heathrow could be reconciled with its commitment