Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. The challenge presented to Wales by the climate emergency is not simply to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions and protect communities against the impact of more intense weather, as significant a challenge as these represent. The challenge is to make the transition to net zero into a set of opportunities to make Wales stronger, greener and fairer. Between 2018 and 2021, our legal targets for decarbonisation, agreed by the Senedd, were brought forward by over a decade. This means we need to achieve greater emissions reduction in the next 10 years than we have in the last 30 years.

Whilst it is easy to agree on the need for decisions to be made, there remain both practical obstacles and, in some cases, outright opposition to taking some of the specific steps to shift our economy onto a net-zero trajectory. The case we have to make is that, whilst there are short to medium-term challenges, the benefits to Wales in making the transition will far outweigh any disbenefits along the way.

Such a transition will not be delivered by relying purely on technology and free markets to provide all of the solutions for us. Our net-zero plan for carbon budget 2 is designed to help mobilise collective action and deliver a planned approach that reflects our duties under the Well-being of Future Generations Act (Wales) 2015—a just transition, in which workers are supported to gain the skills and opportunities to play a leading role, prioritising nature-based solutions to make ecosystems more resilient, developing shorter and more circular supply chains that reduce our consumption of natural resources, avoiding waste and retaining more value in local economies.