A major climate victory over Heathrow was aided by apathy in Downing Street

The environment was the winner in court: but what will happen when No 10 is determined to force a project through?

Live by the greenwash, die by it too. Barely six days after Heathrow Airport declared it had been certified carbon neutral, its third-runway ambitions were trapped in a peat bog. The court of appeal decided that UK aviation policy had not sufficiently made reference to the Paris climate change agreement; and the government declared with a straight face that, committed as it was to a greener future, it would simply have to bow to the judge.

However much the law has spoken and campaigners have won a famous victory, it is once again opportunistic politics, above legal judgments and environmental concerns, that will doom the scheme.