8. What are the implications for the Welsh Government following the C40 Mayors Summit in which Paris, Athens, Madrid and Mexico City committed to diesel free status by 2025? OAQ(5)0076(ERA)

Thank you. The mayors’ commitment to ban diesel vehicles from these four cities by 2025 is one response to the growing public awareness of the health effects of air pollution. We are currently reviewing our air quality policies, following our consultation on the subject, which closed on 6 December.

It’s quite clear the message here is that urban areas, to be really attractive for the local population, but also inward investment and their economic health, require clean air—the best quality possible. There are ways that we can manage that now, even before we formally ban diesel cars. It’s really important that, in Wales, we see the leadership we could be giving for the whole of the UK, and that will bring very great benefits to us economically as well.

I’m not sure, David, if you were in the Chamber when Simon Thomas raised a similar issue around this, and I was saying that, you know, you’re absolutely right. We’ve got this group of mayors—and I met several of them when I was at Conference of the Parties 22—who are being really ambitious with their targets for ending the use of diesel cars by 2025. I was saying in my previous response that I think it’s really important that Wales stays at the fore. We’ve always been ahead of these things, and we need to be looking to make sure that we’re not being left behind.

It’s interesting that the environmental push is now there to reduce the use of diesel cars because it seems to be only a few years ago that we were actually being encouraged to use diesel by many of the same people. So, I wonder if the Minister would agree that this is one example of an area where the received wisdom in the environmental field, within a few years, turns out to be completely wrong.

Well, I think it’s called science and moving on and learning. I absolutely would like to set a target to get rid of fossil fuel cars by a certain date, but to do that you have to make sure that we have, for instance, the metro, where we’ve got that sustainable transport in place for the public to use. But, absolutely, the way forward is to get rid of diesel cars and fossil fuel cars.