Though not a member of the committee, I wanted to say a few words, as I think the issues raised in the report are of interest to all of us. Business here in this Chamber is, of course, at the moment, COVID-centric, understandably so, and combating the pandemic may be the immediate concern. But, beyond the pandemic, over the longer term, tackling climate change remains a key challenge, arguably the key challenge of our age, and decarbonisation must be at the heart of this. 

The first recommendation in the report highlights a need for greater capacity in the energy network, if we're to meet the ambition of switching to electric vehicles over the next couple of decades. Electric vehicles are more efficient and cleaner, as we know, but they do, of course, need electricity to run on, rather than petrol or diesel, and that has to be generated somehow, preferably from renewables, to avoid us simply shifting the emission problem from our towns and cities on to power stations. 

And, then, of course, we come back to the age-old question of the electric charging infrastructure, which we discuss over and over again in this Chamber and outside. That's identified in recommendation 2. Clearly, the current infrastructure is inadequate for the current electric car fleet in Wales, let alone fit for purpose for future expansion. We really do need to see a step change in the delivery of the charging infrastructure, and that's going to require cross-portfolio working, including changes to the planning system.

Only a couple of years ago, a planning application for an innovative electric vehicle charging station adjacent to the A40 in Monmouth, in my constituency, was rejected on the basis of breaching technical advice note 15 guidelines on flooding. Now, I appreciate that there's good thought behind many of these guidelines, but, at the same time, we need to ensure that there's flexibility in the system if we're going to have any hope of reaching the kind of number of charging stations that we need. 

And it's not just about cars. Turning to buses, the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK has suggested that the emission targets for buses are extremely high—too high—and not achievable without considerable investment. They ask, 'Where are the costings? Where's the detail?' As the Green Alliance has said, the cost-effectiveness of electrifying the bus fleet and the associated infrastructure at the depot is dependent on an upward trend in bus usage—a trend that certainly isn't there at the moment during the pandemic, and arguably wasn't there in the run up to it either. So, there are complicating factors for the bus industry as well.

I notice on page 30 of the report that James Price, for Transport for Wales, has said that transport modelling and the integration agenda are key to resolving all these issues. Well, again, integration in the public transport system is something that we've been talking about for as long as I can remember in this Chamber. It's a great idea in principle. I remember back to when James Price came to the—when I was Chair of the Enterprise and Business Committee in the last Assembly, and he came along, and I can't remember which witness it was, but one of them said that integration is a great idea in principle, but devilishly difficult to achieve in practice. Well, here we are, some years on from that, and we still haven't achieved that integration, that Oyster-type system that they have in London, that we were looking at here once. Hopefully, one day, we will achieve integration. It's clear from reading this report that that is essential, vital, and part of the answer in delivering decarbonisation and solving the climate change problem.

So, in conclusion, Dirprwy Lywydd, we must strive for integration, along with electrification of private and public transport—key to decarbonisation. I'm delighted that this report was brought to this Chamber today and I want to thank the Chair of the committee and the committee for the work they've done on this. It's been an interesting read as a non-member of the committee. There's a lot of interesting stuff in here, which must be pushed forward if we're to meet our goals, meet UK and Welsh Government targets, and bring to fruition a cleaner, greener and more sustainable future.