To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport whether his Department has revised its net present value estimate for a new runway and terminal at Heathrow airport to take account of the new methodology for carbon pricing in appraisals provided by the Department for Energy and Climate Change. (290897)

The assessment of the economic case presented in Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport Impact Assessment followed the guidance on the shadow price of carbon, issued by DEFRA following the Stern Review. In developing the Impact Assessment, the Department for Transport considered the potential impact of significantly higher values and concluded that the economic case remained robust.

However, no revised net present value estimate for a new runway and terminal at Heathrow airport that takes account of the new carbon values published in July 2009 by the Department for Energy and Climate Change is available.

Preliminary work since the January Heathrow decision indicates that the economic case for Heathrow’s third runway is robust to the new carbon values.

The Department for Transport currently expects to publish the next generation of air passenger demand forecasts in 2010.