Reducing Contrails

[Gary C]

Given that Gates himself is a target in some conspiracy theories, I wonder how the chemtrail believers will deal with this?

By Bill Gates published on Wednesday, Oct 7, 2026

Persistent contrails are responsible for about half of the temperature increase caused by aviation. If we were to get rid of them, we would eliminate up to two percent of all global warming. Doing this would cost less than ten dollars a ton of emissions avoided (probably around a dollar or two), compared with $130 or more per ton for SAF. That's a mind-blowing impact for such a relatively cheap intervention.

Source -- https://www.gatesnotes.com/work/acc...for-an-affordable-climate-win-look-to-the-sky

 

[Mendel]

The idea is not new. See https://www.metabunk.org/threads/contrail-prevention-studies-trials.14345/
The FAA even had a contrails research roadmap before February 2025.
I assume Gates is stepping up because the USG dropped the ball.

 

[Ann K]

I recall the day after the Twin Towers went down, the sky was incredibly blue, unprecedented in my urban area, because all the planes were grounded. It sounds like a good idea, but has Gates have anything more than ('scuse the expression) "pie in the sky"? He has put a dollar value on it while still using the word "if". Does he have any real plan how it could be done?

 

[Mendel]

It sounds like a good idea, but has Gates have anything more than ('scuse the expression) "pie in the sky"? He has put a dollar value on it while still using the word "if". Does he have any real plan how it could be done?

The general idea is to work out at which altitudes and in what regions the conditions for contrails exist, and then not route aircraft through the worst bits.
Cost is for the weather prediction and making the results available to air traffic control; and then a small cost in fuel and flight time for the aircraft taking a detour because of this.
There's already a fair bit of research on this; it's basically now something that needs money and politics behind it.

 

[Mendel]

Given that Gates himself is a target in some conspiracy theories, I wonder how the chemtrail believers will deal with this?

"Bill Gates spearheads iniative to make chemtrails invisible--the coverup continues!", I'd guess.