Diolch, acting Presiding Officer. I formally move the amendment tabled in my name.

The national development framework should provide us with the opportunity to tackle one of the biggest threats facing our nation—that of climate change. The effects of our changing climate have been felt quite dramatically in recent years. Whilst coronavirus may be dominating the 2020 headlines, the impact of climate change has been just as dramatic. Wildfires have decimated large parts of Australia and North America. The Caribbean and southern United States have faced one of the worst hurricane seasons ever; for the first time, two hurricanes struck at once. In south-east Asia, the typhoon season saw back-to-back super-typhoons, bringing destruction and loss of life. Closer to home, the UK was battered by storms, leading to widespread flooding in many parts of Wales.

The evidence that human activity has caused lasting damage to our climate is undeniable. We cannot deny that our actions have led to an increasing global temperature, which has had a dramatic impact upon our weather systems. Years of inaction, continued carbon dioxide emissions and outright denial have meant it is too late to stop rising global temperatures. And unless we take action now, things will get much, much worse. We have to tackle carbon emissions now, and that means ensuring that our energy production and transport infrastructure is carbon neutral at the very least.

Welsh Government Ministers have accepted this, hence the declaration of a climate emergency. Unfortunately, they haven't followed it up with urgent action. The national development framework should have been a blueprint for increasing development in a sustainable way that not only benefits the people of Wales, but also addresses the threat of climate change. And once again, the Welsh Government have placed too much focus on onshore wind. Large-scale onshore windfarms are not the answer; we would have to fill every available hill with turbines, and even then we would not address Wales's energy needs—not that anyone would accept the impact of all these turbines. I would have thought that the Welsh Government would have learnt from the opposition to technical advice note 8. They are clearly unaware of the impact of onshore windfarms, as they have banned them from our national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty. But that is of little comfort to my region, which has, once again, been identified for a windfarm. Once again, Welsh Ministers have opted for the easy option, designating permitted development for onshore windfarms so that they can pay lip service to tackling climate change. Onshore wind cannot replace fossil-fuel generation in Wales. If they are serious, decarbonisation would be the primary goal of this framework and it would heavily focus on offshore wind and tidal generation. Tidal lagoons could meet Wales's future energy needs and a tidal barrage could meet the UK's energy needs. This is the sort of development we should be pursuing. And, yes, it would be expensive in terms of upfront cost but would be so much cheaper in the long run.

We are at crunch point—unless we take difficult decisions now, we are condemning future generations to live with an onslaught of natural disasters and famine. All development decisions we take should be focused upon ensuring that we prevent further damage to our planet. I urge Welsh Government to rethink their development framework to take this into account, and if you agree with me, please support my amendment. Diolch yn fawr. Thank you very much.