Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you to all Members who’ve taken part in the debate. I think in this very challenging economic climate how we respond to the challenges and the investments we make now will absolutely determine the viability of the public sector and our collective future in Wales. We know that decisions we make today will either usher in a new era of collaboration and efficiency, or they’ll lock us into an outdated and, ultimately, more carbon expensive pathway, which will then threaten the delivery of key services.

If I can just turn to the amendments. We won’t be supporting the first amendment. The approach to carbon budgets, as David Melding pointed out, is following the timeline set within the Environment (Wales) Act 2016. The timing of the regulations was previously discussed and voted on when that legislation went through in the previous Assembly. I’m not going to look to bring the carbon budget setting forward. I think we need to make sure that those budgets and the interim targets are at the right levels. They need to be based on robust evidence and, as you said, we do have until the end of 2018. So, that work is ongoing.

We won’t be supporting amendment 2. Carbon budgets will fully incorporate the provisions within the well-being of future generations Act. I am working with the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, who is watching us very closely, believe me, in the decarbonisation area, to ensure that we do fully embed all principles and goals within the Act in all our decarbonisation work, not just within the public sector.

We will not be supporting the third amendment. In considering whether the Welsh Government should either develop or promote a public energy company, it’s really important to be very clear about the purpose of such a body and the potential benefits, risks and costs. Many of the functions proposed by Ynni Cymru are already being taken forward by Welsh Government-funded programmes of support, such as our Warm Homes programme, the Local Energy Service and the Green Growth Wales public sector support office.

Colleagues will be aware from previous discussions that we’ve had a series of events to initiate a stakeholder conversation in March this year, and that was about the potential for such an energy company for Wales, and how this might fit with our role in advancing the process of the decarbonisation of the energy system in Wales. And I think what those events did, really, was provide a very clear consensus around the risks, the challenges and the tensions inherent in Welsh Government setting up and then running an energy supply company, which would heavily outweigh, I think, the potential benefits of doing so. And I think the message that I took away from those events is that we need to focus our resources on filling the gaps, linking up and supporting things that wouldn’t happen naturally.

We will be supporting amendment 4. Actions taken to reduce carbon emissions can also address emissions of air pollutants, and it is important to maximise synergies and avoid unintended negative effects. We will be taking a collaborative approach in the development of our clean air zone framework for Wales and, again, that work will be reflected in the Brexit stakeholder working group on air and climate.

We’ll be supporting amendment 5. We do have support available to the public sector to utilise to deliver electric vehicle charging points, for instance, on their premises, for employees and visitors. And we supported NRW’s Carbon Positive project, which I referred to in my opening remarks, and that led to the installation of such infrastructure. It’s not hugely complex, it’s not cost prohibitive, and I do expect the public sector to simply deliver on that.

And we will be supporting amendment 6. Our Smart Living programme is working with the public sector, academia and business to deliver a range of smart demonstrators, including ambitions around hydrogen. Hydrogen may well be an important energy carrier and storage medium in the future, and as part of this work, we’ve set up a hydrogen reference group that is convening stakeholders right across the sector, with the aim of delivering a hydrogen demonstrator that could involve transport.

If I can just turn to Members’ comments, I think David Melding absolutely grasped why we’re doing this with the public sector, even though it accounts for only 1 per cent of our emissions; it is that multiplication factor that you spoke about. And I am, just to reassure you, working very closely with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government to align our finance budgets and our carbon budgets going forward.

Simon Thomas referred to staff commuting, for instance, and again talked about the NRW Carbon Positive project. It was very impressive the work that they’d done around their staff commuting, getting the infrastructure around low-carbon vehicles. I’ve asked officials to look at doing a similar project across the Welsh Government estate and our officials, and I think we’ll be quite shocked to see what comes out of that. I’m currently going through a procurement process to have electric vehicle charging points put in our estate, and I’m hoping that will be completed by the autumn.

Mike Hedges reiterated that we can’t just have business as usual and the reasons for that. It’s not just about jobs and opportunities that a low-carbon economy brings forward; it is about the health benefits, and Gareth Bennett referred to the need to look at air quality within that. And that’s why we’re supporting amendment 4.

Jenny Rathbone talked about wood being used for the construction of houses, and I’m very keen to see that. And in my bilaterals with not just the Cabinet Secretaries but Ministers also, this is something that we’re very keen on. Julie James and I had a long discussion about skills, because it’s really important that the skills to do that are there. I was very pleased to open Pentre Solar last year, which are houses in west Wales that have been constructed through timber. I absolutely agree with you that we need to grow more trees, and you’re right: the policies that we’re doing now are very long term; we’re talking about 30 years. Last week, I managed to get Confor and NRW in the same room, because it’s really important that we’re not only planting more trees, but we’re planting the right trees in the right places going forward.

I mentioned that our ambition is for the Welsh public sector to be carbon neutral by 2030. I think I’ve set out the evidence that shows that the sector really does have substantial influence in this area, and it’s really important that they show that leadership. And I’d just like to urge all colleagues to respond to the call for evidence on the public sector decarbonisation, so that we have that wide breadth of evidence to consider how we can deliver on this very important issue. Diolch.