diff --git a/doc/whats-new.rst b/doc/whats-new.rst
index 2e97e61abb1..851d96d4960 100644
--- a/doc/whats-new.rst
+++ b/doc/whats-new.rst
@@ -39,6 +39,12 @@ Breaking changes
 Deprecations
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
+Performance
+~~~~~~~~~~~
+- Optimize alignment with ``join="exact", copy=False`` by avoiding copies. (:pull:`7736`)
+  By `Deepak Cherian <https://github.com/dcherian>`_.
+- Avoid unnecessary copies of ``CFTimeIndex``. (:pull:`7735`)
+  By `Deepak Cherian <https://github.com/dcherian>`_.
 
 Bug fixes
 ~~~~~~~~~
diff --git a/xarray/core/alignment.py b/xarray/core/alignment.py
index 05e2ca7eb8b..edebccc2534 100644
--- a/xarray/core/alignment.py
+++ b/xarray/core/alignment.py
@@ -574,6 +574,8 @@ def align(self) -> None:
 
         if self.join == "override":
             self.override_indexes()
+        elif self.join == "exact" and not self.copy:
+            self.results = self.objects
         else:
             self.reindex_all()