'is a serious wake-up call for Wales', and I was also encouraged when I heard her say a week ago that

'rhetoric must now be met with bold and decisive action' when she called for us to declare a nature emergency.

I've been reading about this thing called cognitive dissonance, which is a psychological concept where two actions or ideas are not psychologically consistent with each other, and that's what I've heard in the Chamber this afternoon from the Conservatives. We've had two weeks of hot air proclaiming their green credentials in calling for bold action on climate change, in tackling the biodiversity and nature crisis, and speech after speech with the same old rubbish of the same old policies that have led us to the situation that we're in today. [Interruption.] There is a contradiction between calling for different actions to achieve different outcomes and then calling for us to keep investing money in projects that embed carbon in them, and, through increasing traffic, generate existing carbon not just for us, but for the future generations they're saying to stand up for.

Now, clearly, looking at their faces, there is incomprehension at what I'm saying, and this is—[Interruption.] If we are genuine about resetting the conversation in this Senedd, which we must if we're going to reach the Climate Change Committee targets of doubling the amount of emissions reductions in the next 10 years that we've achieved over the last whole 30 years, we have to do it across this Chamber. It's no good giving speeches for easy headlines, but when it comes to the first action we have to do to put that rhetoric into action we turn instead to these glib contributions about doing the same thing, and decrying us for letting down motorists and letting down people. This is just bunkum, and I'm afraid the Conservatives need to confront this, as do all parties in this Chamber. There are contradictions on all sides here. The general reaction to my announcement of pausing road-building schemes has been: 'We agree with the principle, except for the road scheme in our constituency.' And I can understand that as a constituency Member myself, and there are road schemes in my constituency that have strong support, and it is a difficult political message to say to people, 'We need to pause and reflect.'

Now, I do understand the concerns that there are, and I want to put on the record that the roads review that we have announced does not mean we're ending road investment in Wales. The review will consider how we can move away from spending money on projects that encourage more people to drive and spend more money on maintaining our roads and investing in real alternatives that give people a meaningful choice. And that's the important word: a choice. This isn't about ramming anything down anyone's throat or forcing people to do anything; it's about giving people a realistic alternative, which we can't do when we keep pouring investment into schemes that generate additional carbon emissions. And I'll be publishing the panel members and the terms of reference shortly, where further details will be available. For now, I can add that, with regard to individual schemes, the review panel will be developing its own review criteria and making an initial report to Ministers within three months of its appointment on the road investment projects in scope of the review.

We are doing a series of things already. The publication of our Wales transport strategy earlier this year set out that we now have a clear goal of increasing modes by sustainable transport from a third to 45 per cent of journeys by 2040. And the investment has to follow that, and it stands to reason that if we're going to spend more money on maintaining roads, spending more money on public transport, spending more money on active travel, that means we have to spend less money on schemes that generate additional carbon emissions.

A number of Conservative speakers said—and Gareth Davies I think said this—that we are scrapping infrastructure investments. We're doing no such thing. We're investing in infrastructure that encourages people to reduce their carbon emissions. So, this is not scrapping any infrastructure investments. We are shifting the emphasis, but we're doing it on the basis of evidence, and that's what the review needs to do and that's why it needs to take its time to do it. It needs to look at what carbon headroom we have within the climate change targets that, two weeks ago, we all supported. Now, supporting the principle involves supporting the practice, so we need an analysis of what carbon headroom we have for transport, with 17 per cent of the contributors of carbon emissions to play with, and what role roads have within that carbon headroom. And it may well be as a result of that there'll be cases for roads that are there to tackle air quality, for example—that the road is the right solution. We're not starting from a position that it's not. And in that case, we can go ahead with road schemes that have other benefits, but we can't go ahead with every road scheme and hit our carbon emissions target. It stands to reason, and it requires a shift of thinking.

Now, the other thing worth mentioning is the investment we are putting into public transport. We've announced a £17 million grant to Blaenau Gwent council to put four trains an hour on the Ebbw Vale line, as part of implementing the Burns recommendations. Those 58 recommendations were set out to show how a modern public transport system could reduce congestion in Newport, tackle the problems that the M4 was designed to do for half the price, in a way that reduces emissions and helps social justice—which spending £2 billion on a road scheme does not do, when you take into account that a quarter of people don't have a car.

We're also in Newport extending the on-demand Fflecsi bus service across the whole city as a model for developing that right across Wales, and we also have a set of proposals for rural Wales, where these problems are different and require a different approach, but we know from several international examples that it's entirely possible to allow modal shift to happen in rural areas. I do think that car clubs and electric car clubs have a really important part to play in that. We don't need to own multiple cars per household if there is a flexible alternative available for communities to use, and this year we are spending £8 million through the £38 million ultra-low emission vehicle transformation fund for councils to roll out additional EV charge points this financial year.

So, we're already committed to doing a lot, but we need to do far more to hit the targets that we've all committed to doing, and the roads review has an important part to play in that. But Members across this Chamber need to come to terms with the fact it is no good signing up to targets unless you're prepared to follow up the action required to implement those targets. Diolch.