4. Statement by the Deputy Minister for Climate Change: COP26

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:55 pm on 16 November 2021.

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Photo of Lee Waters Lee Waters Labour 3:55, 16 November 2021

Thank you for that series of questions. In terms of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, it has literally been less than a week since it was created, and I think it's important that we send the signal that we are part of that as a country that was there at the beginning of the industrial revolution, and signal that we think that fossil fuels do not play a part in our future. It began with 10 members of different degrees of membership—California, for example, is an associate member and we are a core member. And just as I mentioned in my statement the other alliances that we've been part of building over the years, which have now grown, we hope the same will happen with the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance. We've had some informal conversations with the Scottish Government already to help them understand what the membership process involves. We hope, by the example we have shown, that this will grow to be a significant alliance.

I thought, in a week, certainly in the second week of talk, where there was not a great deal of tangible progress for much of it, this alliance was a signal of hope of what Governments can do regardless of COP. Because I think we need to make a distinction between the COP process, which is international negotiation, which, by definition, moves at the pace of the slowest, and our net-zero commitment, which exists regardless of the COP process. We have committed, in law, as has the UK Government, to achieve net zero by 2050 at the latest; we don't need COP to happen to deliver on that, we all need to focus on what we need to do and not be slowed down by others who are finding it more difficult to match our commitments.

The deep dive on renewables is at the mid point. I'll be delivering a statement to the Senedd on 7 December setting out the initial conclusions. As with the tree deep dive, I've brought together a range of different perspectives and we've published the terms of reference and the membership. We're also supplementing that by holding a series of round-tables. We had a very good round-table with industry representatives and we have another round-table imminent with non-governmental organisations. With the group itself, we are systematically identifying what barriers there are to significant scale-up of renewables, and also, crucially, how we can capture value in Wales. What I don't want to do is to repeat the previous industrial revolutions where our economic wealth has been exported and extracted by interests outside of Wales; I want this time to make sure that our wealth is captured locally. And that is challenging, but that absolutely has to be at the heart of our approach, so we don't repeat the mistakes of the past.

On coal tips, she rightly illustrates that these are now very vulnerable, given that we know the climate change that is locked in. We are bitterly disappointed that the UK Government, despite initially showing joint leadership on this agenda, seems to have entirely abdicated its role, has not funded the remediation of coal tips in the budget settlement, and is simply leaving us to get on with this, even though these coal tips are a legacy of our industrial past and existed pre devolution. We think it is only right that the UK Government accepts joint ownership of this problem and works with us. It has failed to do that, so we are now left with a real problem, both practically and financially, of dealing with this legacy that they seem to have walked away from, preferring instead to sprinkle little pots of money to get themselves positive coverage in politically friendly parts of the country, rather than facing up to their role as part of the union.

In terms of mitigation and adaptation, she is absolutely right, we do need to be constantly reviewing our plans to deal with the climate change we know that is locked in, and that is work that is ongoing.