This important report by the Senedd/Welsh Parliament's committee is as important as it is timely. The urgent matters affecting our globe remain with us, in addition to and not outside the COVID, and the climate emergency remains with us. Carbon cuts need to happen, and they need to happen rapidly. Again a dire warning has come from the United Nations, and the United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, is urging people around the world to stop waging what he calls 'a suicidal war' on nature, as do so many globally recognised eminent scientists, agencies and influencers, such as Greta Thunberg and our very own Ella Daish, long campaigning to change Tampax and others to switch to non-plastic sanitary products.

These latest warnings come as the World Meteorological Organization states that this year will be one of the third hottest on record, just behind 2016 and 2019. And despite all the pollution haltage of COVID, still global warming is rising. The six-year quartile from 2015 to now will be the warmest on record since 1850. And 2020 has seen the most serious impacts of this warming in the UK, with the deadly floods in February, the warmest spring on record, with a record 30 named storms having ravaged, including the wild fires destroying communities across the US and Australia.

So, it is right to see the Senedd's Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee tackle this topic of decarbonisation of transport, and it is heartening too to see the Welsh Labour Government's positive response to the report's recommendations and its actions already on the record. In particular, I was struck by recommendation 3, which strongly calls to discourage private car use. Members will be cognisant that only a few weeks ago we received the final recommendations, 'One region, one network, one ticket', from the South East Wales Transport Commission, led by Lord Burns.

The creation of a direct railway service between Ebbw Vale and Newport is an issue I have campaigned for in this Senedd since 2016, and I am very glad to see that it will be realised now, in our efforts to provide alternative means of modal transport. The Burns report recommends completing the upgrade of the Ebbw Vale line, including the branch to a new station at Abertillery, as already proposed by Welsh Government, to allow for four trains per hour along the line and to provide services directly to Newport. And it is practical measures such as these that will serve my constituents well in Islwyn, in the railway towns of Crosskeys, Risca and Newbridge.

But there is still very much to do, and although a critical journey has begun, this committee report is a welcome further station to our destination, and what this Senedd ambitiously wants now, including former carbon deniers, and that is a carbon-neutral future for our future generations. Thank you.