Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has received representations from the Climate Change Committee on the viability and likelihood of success of the decarbonisation pathways in the Jet Zero Strategy.

In July 2021, we published the Jet Zero Consultation which set out our vision for the aviation sector to reach net zero by 2050. The approach set out in the consultation focused on the rapid development of technologies in a way that maintains the benefits of air travel and maximises the opportunities that decarbonisation can bring for the UK.

We published a further technical consultation in March 2022, and our analysis in both consultations showed that the sector can achieve Jet Zero without the Government needing to intervene directly to limit aviation growth, with scenarios that can achieve our net zero targets by focusing on new fuels and technology, with knock-on economic and social benefits.

We are carefully considering responses to both consultations in the development of the final Jet Zero Strategy, which we are aiming to publish later this year.

As a responsible government, we recognise that we will need to keep our forthcoming Jet Zero Strategy under review and therefore we intend to assess progress on the sector’s emission reduction pathway and update our strategy where necessary through five-year reviews

Ministers and officials from the Department for Transport meet regularly with members of the Climate Change Committee, and we will consider recommendations from their June 2022 progress report in further detail in the coming months.