Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:47 pm on 14 February 2017.
Diolch, Lywydd. It’s quite clear that the policy of the American Government is going to change in many respects as a result of the election of President Trump, not least in respect of policies on climate change. Scott Pruitt, who is President Trump’s nominee as head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, has already caused to be removed from the department’s website the US commitment to the UN climate change negotiations. Now, given that the United States, China and India, between them, are responsible for more than half of the global carbon dioxide emissions in the world, and China and India have not signed up to any absolute reduction in the level of those emissions, regardless of one’s views on whether man-made climate change is a reality or not—regardless of views on that—does it make sense for Britain, and Wales in particular, which is responsible for only 0.05 per cent of world carbon dioxide emissions, to be saddled with a dear energy policy that is a millstone round the neck of the manufacturing industry and industries like the steel industry in particular?