Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Department for Transport on the impact of aviation induced cloudiness on the environment.

Defra officials have regular discussions with officials from the Department of Transport on the impacts of transport including aviation on the environment. There is significant uncertainty about the impact of cloudiness or contrails from aviation which can lead to both warming and cooling effects. The Government is working closely with the academic community to better understand the non-CO₂ impacts from aviation, and potential mitigation methods to ensure that future policy development is based on the latest available climate science.

Through the Jet Zero Consultation, the Government sought views on our approach to decarbonise aviation and also sought views on how to tackle non-CO₂ impacts.