I want to return to 2016, when the environment Act was passed, from where the need for these regulations emanated. Now, I have to say that the long-term target of cutting emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 was dated at that point when the environment Act was passed in 2016, because the basis was the UK Climate Change Act, which has just celebrated its tenth birthday, and there was no new research for this legislation in Wales in 2016. And that was acknowledged at the time, and I know because I proposed amendments as the Plaid Cymru spokesperson scrutinising this Bill in order to strengthen the targets and to change that date in order to reflect the urgency and the need for swifter action, as has now become even more apparent in the latest report by the IPCC. So, as a result, the carbon budgets and the pathway to 2050 and the targets for 2020, 2030 and 2040 are all on the wrong track. The fact that the target for 2020 has reduced from 40 per cent to 27 per cent demonstrates a lack of action and also demonstrates why we need to look at this anew.

Now, the Act says, of course, that there is a responsibility on Government to introduce regulations that have considered international agreements such as Paris, of course, and the latest scientific evidence as well as our duties to be a nation that is responsible on an international level, which comes under one of the goals of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. Not one of these has been taken fully into account in the advice and recommendations of the UK Committee on Climate Change, but, again, the Welsh Government has accepted these inadequate recommendations in their entirety.

Now, the IPCC report in the autumn is a clear warning that we have just 12 years to avoid disastrous climate change, but the targets proposed here for Wales's contribution in 12 years, by 2030, is just a 45 per cent cut in emissions. The route towards decarbonisation should be on a different trajectory—there should be greater cuts happening sooner, not the gradual approach that the Government is taking. Yes, there is a cost to that, and I appreciate that and we need to be sensitive to that, but the cost of having to do more in future will be far higher.

Of course, the preparatory work for these regulations was done before the publication of the IPCC report, and in light of this we need a clear commitment from the Government that they will introduce updated regulations not only following the advice commissioned by the UK Committee on Climate Change but also following an assessment of what Wales's fair share is on a global level, bearing in mind our international responsibilities and our historic contribution to climate change as one of the first nations to industrialise. I'm therefore asking the Cabinet Secretary in this debate today to confirm that we will have a clear commitment that the Government will update these targets next year in light of the latest information available.

I also want to touch on the process. The process and the lack of opportunity that there has been for real scrutiny of these proposals is something that is unacceptable, in my view. There's been no consultation on these specific regulations and no opportunity for the climate change committee to be part of their development. We've had 20 days under Standing Orders to look at these—just 20 days to look at targets that will be in place for almost 40 years, or certainly 30 years. There should have been draft regulations laid so that we could have that meaningful debate. But what's happening, to all intents and purposes, is that the Government is forcing this Assembly to accept these regulations as they are because they do have to be passed, according to the legislation, before the end of the year, and to pass them before we have seen the decarbonisation delivery plan, which won't be available until March, as we've heard. But we're expected to decide that these targets are appropriate without having fully understood how the Government intends to deliver the targets and to achieve them. There's an irony that the Government is asking us to pass these regulations on the very day when hundreds of people were on the steps of the Senedd protesting against the environmental damage and the carbon emission impact that the new M4 will have in the Newport area.

To conclude, therefore, Plaid Cymru is willing under protest to vote in favour of these regulations in order to avoid a situation where the Government is in contravention of the environment Act, but only on the basis of a clear commitment by the Cabinet Secretary that there will be more ambitious targets adopted within 12 months.