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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of hydrogen technology on improving air quality.

Improving air quality is a top priority for this Government. Our Clean Air Strategy sets out an ambitious programme of action to reduce air pollution from a wide range of sources. Defra’s Air Quality Expert Group considered hydrogen in its recent report Impacts of Net Zero pathways on future air quality in the UK. Furthermore, the Department for Transport published in 2018 the outputs of the Transport Energy Model, which provides a clear assessment for the period to 2050 of the relative environmental impacts, including air quality, of a range of fuel and powertrain options for cars, vans, buses and heavy good vehicles, including hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.