Thank you, Presiding Officer. I welcome the opportunity to respond to this debate. I believe the Plaid Cymru motion is right to point to the stark warning from the scientific community and the need for urgent and rapid global response. Climate change is not a distant threat. As we debate today, the impacts of climate change are damaging the lives and livelihoods of millions of people across the globe. It is driving extreme weather events here in Wales, to which we are already having to adapt. 

Wales is only responsible for a tiny fraction of the world's emissions, but it is the view of this Welsh Government that we are capable as a nation of delivering change here in a way that will reduce our impact on the environment, make our society fairer and healthier, and that we can spur more rapid change across the UK and internationally. That is why I would like us to go further than the Plaid Cymru motion. I want us to focus not just on what we need to do, but on how we will focus our efforts to deliver it. Assembly Members and the public are rightly asking: if this is an emergency, what is our response and how can we judge progress? 

The Government amendment is to highlight our areas of strength on which we can build, and I have to say, Plaid Cymru's line on the climate change emergency—they aren't bad actions, but they are far short of what's in the Welsh Government plan, and wouldn't even deal with half of our greenhouse gas emissions, never mind take us anywhere near net zero. So, as a Government, we can use our progressive legislation to underpin the changes needed with legal force: the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and our Environment (Wales) Act 2016.

We can maximise the contribution made by the public sector to tackling climate change and the loss of species and habitats, and we can play a co-ordinating role in driving change in other sectors, from fostering the creation of new green industries and community-led renewable energy projects to improving the evidence base by working with Natural Resources Wales, with Wales's universities, and with international experts.

On Monday, when I met with my ministerial counterparts from the UK and Scottish Governments, we all agreed there is a need to accelerate action on climate change. I'm disappointed that the Welsh Conservatives' amendment shows a complacency in the face of the climate emergency we face, and I would urge Members to vote with the Government today, to make the National Assembly the first Parliament in the world to vote in favour of the declaration of a climate emergency. The seed of our response to the climate emergency is contained in the 100 policies and proposals in the low-carbon delivery plan, but after receiving our advisory body—the UKCCC—advice tomorrow, I will review these.

In conclusion, Deputy Presiding Officer, to match the pace and scale of change needed, we now need to call for collective action across the whole of society, and that will include action based on a common resolve between our political parties.