I'm very pleased to speak in this debate this afternoon. I didn't realise I had three minutes—I thought I had a bit more, so I'm going to need to speed up a bit now.

I think it's been highlighted, and I apologise for not being at the launch of the hydrogen bike, because I was actually chairing the cross-party group on cancer at the time and couldn't be there. But it is important for us to remember a few things. Power accounted for 17 per cent of the UK's emissions in 2016, and that's according to the Committee on Climate Change. These figures need to reduce significantly—we all agree with that, and I don't think anybody in this Chamber would disagree with that—to be able to meet our 2050 targets. Now, transport and industrial emissions are two major causes of increased carbon emissions in the country, and we need to address these.

Most people have already focused upon the transport agenda, so perhaps I'll look at the heavy industry, and that's responsible for 40 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions in Wales. But converting these emissions into high-value speciality chemicals and food products turns this waste into a major resource. Converting industry from using hydrocarbon fuels to using hydrogen generated from green electricity sources can both decrease industrial emissions and simultaneously lower energy costs to create a more competitive regional economy. Now, using hydrogen for heating and transport could be one of those ways. Hydrogen can be very versatile. It's been mentioned, it can be transported by pipeline, it can be transported by road in tankers as a compressed gas, or actually produced locally in a decentralised system. Therefore, it has many potential uses in an overall energy system.

Now, we can make an important contribution to long-term decarbonisation, combined with good energy efficiency, cheap, low-carbon power generation, electrified transport and new hybrid heat pump systems. A report from the CCC, 'Hydrogen in a low-carbon economy', acknowledged the potential of hydrogen as a zero-carbon energy source. So, it's been recognised and there's no difference in that, but it could actually replace natural gas. I do remember the days of town gas, and we moved over to natural gas, and now we're talking about hydrogen replacing natural gas, and therefore, it's possible. It wasn't possible many years ago, because it was considered expensive. But today, it is a more realistic option to help decarbonise the UK, because the costs are coming down. And therefore, it is important that we get Government commitment to improving support to develop the UK's industrial capacity in this area.

And Wales has a number of advantages that can be utilised in the transition to a hydrogen economy. We have abundant renewable sources to provide an opportunity for a cleaner energy system. However, one point—[Inaudible.]—oil based, I've talked about the energy, the transport—I'll leave that to you; I'll leave that one for others to speak about.

We have fantastic projects in this country, and amendment 3 from the Conservatives highlights that Wales should do more with the universities. Well, I actually want to put on record my appreciation of what they are already doing with universities on some of the projects. We have FLEXIS—flexible integrated energy systems—and we have RICE—reduced industrial carbon emissions. Both are fantastic projects. And I'm also proud of the fact that there are two research centres in my constituency—Baglan bay energy park and in the university's second campus. They are doing fantastic jobs. And let me give an indication of how they're working with industry and Tata in particular—I'll be very quick, Dirprwy Lywydd: using hydrogen to look at how we can actually capture waste heat in Tata, to turn that into usable energy, so we reduce our emissions. Using hydrogen has become a cheap an efficient way of actually generating electricity—again, from Tata's waste gases and renewable energy. Because if they can actually get energy into water, split the water into hydrogen and oxygen, hydrogen becomes energy and oxygen can be used, actually, in water cleansing in water treatment plants, which are also based in Tata, by the way. So, there's another option there. So, we can—