Once again, I need to declare an interest as a councillor, because I will be reflecting on Monmouthshire County Council, but I would first like to thank my colleague Janet Finch-Saunders for bringing forward this timely debate.

Climate change is already having an impact on the world; we all know that and we see that. Back in August, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that scientists were observing changes in the Earth's climate in every region, with natural disasters becoming more frequent and hitting communities harder. Put simply, it's not a question of if we need to act or when we need to act, because the time is now.

Speaking ahead of the opening of COP26 a few days ago, Her Majesty the Queen, that lady who was in this Chamber only a few weeks ago, said that Governments need to

'rise above the politics of the moment' and to act for the 'children and our children's children'. We saw that in our previous debate, but, sadly, we didn't see that, necessarily, earlier today in this Chamber. I am disappointed that the Welsh Government amendment attacks the UK Government in a blatant political stunt, rather than engaging with the Welsh Conservative motion in the constructive spirit in which it was meant.

Acting Llywydd, the pandemic has provided an opportune moment for the Welsh Government to build back greener and fairer, and to level up communities that have been hit hard by the economic uncertainty of the past 18 months. I think it's important that we see the economic recovery and creating a greener society as two sides of the same coin, rather than as separate things.

It is with this in mind that our motion lists a number of practical steps that the Government can take in this Senedd term. This includes further investment into marine and offshore wind energy, utilising our world-class research and development sector as well as working with the UK Government to develop a real plan to develop highly skilled green jobs.

The motion also refers to things that previous Welsh Governments really should have already implemented, such as a clean air Act and an independent office of environmental protection. In saying this, I do recognise there has been some good progress that has been made in Wales, and in the spirit of being constructive, I would like to briefly focus on some of those. In particular, I want to use my contribution in today's debate to highlight the great work that our local communities are leading on.

In my own region, Monmouthshire County Council has led the way in planning for a cleaner, greener future since it declared a climate emergency in 2019. For example, the council published a climate emergency strategy shortly after the declaration, and it's currently in the process of updating its climate change action plan. The council's green infrastructure team works on a range of projects, such as the green connections project, partly funded by the Welsh Government.

Councils in South Wales East of all political persuasions have come together with stakeholders such as Natural Resources Wales to launch the Gwent green grid partnership. This is a new, groundbreaking project that aims to improve and develop green infrastructure, as well as create new jobs for local people. 

I know that there will be other examples across Wales of local communities, organisations and councils that are working collaboratively to take action against climate change. I really do think that there needs to be a stand-alone, accessible and long-term funding stream for councils and communities to tap into to drive these sorts of projects forward. We also need to bring together the various existing funding streams so that people are clearer on what support there is available.

I also believe that we need to look at ways to strengthen the roles of councils in delivering the green agenda, as well as laying the ground work for national projects that the UK and Welsh Governments are leading on. It is only by bringing different tiers of government together that we can deliver a true net-zero society.

My question to the Minister, as well as Members, is: what more can we do to promote local innovation and encourage more partnership working between all layers of government and society, so that we can make more of those small steps that will ultimately make a big difference to combat climate change and boost prosperity within our communities? Acting Llywydd, I encourage all here today to support this motion. Diolch yn fawr.