3. What work is the Commission undertaking to reduce carbon emissions? OAQ51979

Thank you, Simon. The Commission is pleased to take this opportunity to announce that we have recently achieved certification to the international standard for environmental management, ISO 14001. As part of this environmental system, we have a long-term carbon reduction target of a 30 per cent reduction in our energy footprint by 2021. This builds on a previous target that we had for a 40 per cent reduction in our carbon footprint by 2015. We are making good progress with this newer target through a range of actions, and we have achieved a 23 per cent reduction so far as part of our KPIs. Recent actions to support sustainability include the installation of electric vehicle charging points on the estate. 

May I thank the Commissioner for her response and for responding in Welsh? Environmental jargon isn’t great in any language, I accept that, but I’m extremely grateful to you for it.

May I congratulate the Commission on two things, first of all, for gaining the ISO, that environmental standard, and secondly on the news that electric vehicle charging points have now been installed? I look forward to seeing them myself and to taking advantage of them.

The broader question that I wanted to ask today was on how the Assembly encourages more sustainable travel to the Assembly. I notice when visiting other capitals that have parliaments that there are walking or cycling routes to the parliament that have been marked out, '20 minutes' walk to such and such a parliament'. If you’re at the centre of Cardiff, you wouldn’t see any sign saying, 'Well, this way to walk to the Welsh Parliament'. I would ask whether the Commission would perhaps speak to the City of Cardiff Council, which plans safe and sustainable walking and cycling routes, to ensure that the city does much more to advertise the alternative ways of travelling to this Parliament and to Cardiff Bay too.

Diolch, Simon, and you raise an extremely valid point there about contacting other areas, such as the council, to explain that we are attempting to reduce our carbon footprint, and that we'd like to look at the different ways through active travel, and so on, of coming to and from the Senedd, and we wish to encourage alternative ways for Members, Members' families and any visitors to the Senedd to come here by other means of travel, or alternative means. So, I will certainly look into that for you and give you an update on that. 

We do produce an annual environmental report and it's published on the website, so I wonder if you are taking advantage of looking at that, and our environmental system is checked annually. We have long-term carbon targets and have action plans in place where we will hope to achieve this. So, I will look into your question further and I will come back to you with an answer. Diolch yn fawr.