If we listen to the far-right climate change deniers, we will be failing future generations. There's absolutely no doubt about that. Climate change is the biggest threat facing this planet, and it's an absolute shocker that people are prepared to deny that.

Back in 2011, I produced ‘A Greenprint for the Valleys’. Now, this is a programme to regenerate our forgotten and let-down communities by ensuring that they have an economic future with co-operative work that can lead to sustainable outcomes. Had we implemented the proposals in the greenprint, then we would be so much closer to getting where we need to be in terms of a sustainable economy. And let's be clear here: properly dealing with climate change doesn't mean tinkering around the edges. That's not going to do anything. We've been doing that now for years. What we need is nothing short of a transformational change. We need to change the very basis of what our economy is for. It is not for the corporates or the elites or the global powers. It should be shaped in a way that delivers for people, and it should ensure that we protect and safeguard the planet on which we live, and we should live within our ecological means. But as Raymond Williams says in the opening of the greenprint, 

'An economic policy which would begin from real people in real places, and which would be designed to sustain their continuing life, requires a big shift in our thinking'.

In fact, it requires such a big shift in our thinking that we haven't managed to do it yet, but do it we must. We must have an economic plan that has sustainable development and not unsustainable growth at its centre, utilising Wales's abundant natural resources to transition to an economy that is no longer dependant on fossil fuels. 

So, what could we be doing to make a real difference? There are things that we can all do as individuals: we can fly less, we can eat less meat, we can ride our bikes more, but we need more societal and governmental action too. We could do so much more to incentivise renewable energy generation through small-scale co-operatives or social enterprises. The Institute of Welsh Affairs found that £4.6 billion of investment in renewable electricity generation, plus £1.2 billion in domestic energy efficiency, could create some 4,500 jobs during a 15-year investment period. We could do this through a national energy company, and we could also be looking at local authority pension funds as a source for such investment. Welsh local government pension funds are currently investing over £1 billion in climate-wrecking fossil fuels. This makes no sense and it has to stop.

I want to conclude my contribution this afternoon by flagging up the problems with fracking. The Welsh Government has the power to ban fracking in Wales, and it's Plaid Cymru's view that it should ban fracking as soon as possible. We heard just earlier this week of a seismic event with a magnitude of 0.4 on the Richter scale detected near Blackpool where Cuadrilla is fracking for gas in shale rock. I am yet to be convinced about other forms of fracking, because we have to move beyond our fossil fuel addiction. So, the precautionary principle should be upheld to prevent the risk that fracking would pose to Wales. And I very much hope that if nothing else, this Government will act to prevent fracking and not see the offer of jobs or bungs from the fracking companies as an excuse to allow it to go ahead. For too long, our desperation for jobs or funding has led us to accept less than desirable projects and this can't be allowed to happen with fracking. If we are serious about tackling climate change, and if we are to heed the warnings in the latest IPCC report that Llyr Gruffydd and others have referenced, then we have to change the way that we look at jobs and our economy so that we don't keep accepting short-term gain that risks longer term pain.