Environmentalists trying to stop the expansion of airports in Bristol, London and Copenhagen have stepped up their campaign with a direct message to the people who ultimately own all those airports - teachers in the Canadian province of Ontario.
A new international alliance has been forged, uniting campaigners in Bristol with local residents living around London City Airport and three others around Europe, to direct their campaign at the 329,000 teachers and former teachers who work or worked in state schools in Ontario. They pay money into a pension fund, which years ago bought up airports including Bristol’s as an investment.
But now, Bristol Airport’s plan to expand its terminal buildings and its capacity from nine million passengers a year to 12 million has triggered a huge battle that has seen Greta Thunberg, Government ministers and local residents get involved. The new campaign has been organised by the UK’s biggest teachers union - the NEU - along with community and medical campaigners who live around the five airports owned or part-owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan - or OTPP.
