5. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to address climate change? OAQ53862

'Prosperity for All: A Low Carbon Wales' sets out 100 policies and proposals to meet our current carbon budget and set a longer term decarbonisation trajectory for Wales. We have subsequently become the first parliament in the world to vote in favour of the declaration of a climate emergency. 

Diolch, Weinidog. It's one thing to declare a climate change emergency, but as I'm sure you would admit, it's more difficult to take the difficult steps to deal with that. As former American Vice-President Al Gore described it, it's an inconvenient truth that we all must face up to. Promoting electric cars and charging points, as Rhun ap Iorwerth has been doing outside the Senedd today, is clearly one way forward to try and address things on the ground. There's also some radical work going on on the issue of climate repair at Cambridge university, which has been looking at carbon sinks and issues such as reforestation. What are you doing to promote similar research here in Wales, and how are you promoting the development in future of carbon sinks such as new forests to make sure that we don't just deal with the issue of the problems you've got at the moment, but in the future perhaps we can turn the clock back in some ways and try and improve the climate, not just stabilise it?

Thank you. You will have heard me mention in an earlier answer that the reason we declared a climate emergency was to ensure that we did galvanise not just Governments but businesses, communities and individuals to take action now. It's very important we take action now. You suggest a couple of ways we can do this, and I go back to the low-carbon delivery plan. There are 100 policies and proposals, some of them for the future, that we need to do if we are going to decarbonise and have this positive impact on climate change.

I mentioned businesses. I was very pleased to meet with Hafren Dyfrdwy, which Members will be aware of—the water company—last week. They were telling me, for instance, they've taken a triple pledge to achieve net zero carbon and 100 per cent electric vehicles, going back to what you were saying about electric vehicles, and 100 per cent energy from renewable sources by 2030. It’s that sort of action that we need to take in order to address the climate change emergency. So, I'm looking very carefully at those proposals and policies that the First Minister introduced in March. I mentioned about the UK Committee on Climate Change advice that we've been given, and officials are currently looking at the 300 pages of advice. They've suggested that we are able to achieve 95 per cent carbon emission reduction by 2050, so I need to look at that very carefully, and then we'll bring forward a further statement.

Minister, the Welsh Labour Government has shown strong strategic and stable leadership for the Welsh nation by declaring a climate emergency, as acknowledged by climate extinction activist Greta Thunberg. Recently the Welsh Government received advice from the Committee on Climate Change recommending that emissions of greenhouse gases in Wales can and must fall by 95 per cent over the next 30 years to make our ambitious contribution to the commitments made in the Paris agreement. Minister, you've also stated that the Welsh Government has agreed to review Wales's 2050 target and report back to the National Assembly before setting the third Wales carbon budget by the end of 2020. So, therefore, what further strategic initiatives are the Welsh Government considering to proactively meet the climate emergency, so that Wales can lead by example, showing up the shocking vacuum of leadership from the likes of climate denier Donald Trump and those in the UK who share that political view?

Thank you. I mentioned that officials are currently digesting the advice we had from the UK CCC, but we are also reviewing the urgency of actions in our low-carbon plan to see where we can take further action following the declaration. I chair the ministerial task and finish group—which is a cross-Government group—and I've made it a priority for that group to have a look at how we can address that. We fully recognise the urgency of tackling climate change. We may be a small country, but we take our responsibility globally very, very seriously, and we need to do it in a way that maximises the wider benefits for society as we move to a low-carbon economy.

I go back to what I was saying. I think it was really important to make that declaration, to galvanise others to have that trigger—a wave of action at home and internationally, for everybody to come together to recognise the crisis that we do have. Wales is part of the Under2 coalition—we're actually on the steering group—and I've been very fortunate to attend conferences with other states and regions to see the work that's done right across the world. The coalition is made up of about 220 governments right across the world, and they represent over 1.3 billion people and 43 per cent of the global economy. It's important that we learn from other countries, but I think it is only through taking action at home that we can stimulate other actions right across the world.