Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 2:06 pm on 30 March 2022.
Well, Huw Irranca-Davies will remember that, at the Conference of the Parties in Glasgow, we were the only Government in the UK that stood alongside Denmark and Sweden and New Zealand and others to establish the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, pledging not to extract further oil and gas. Wales has significant resources, potentially, of both, but we have taken a clear principled decision that that is not consistent in meeting our net-zero obligations, and even in the face of a crisis, we are not going to resile from that. The UK Government, who talked big at Glasgow, have quickly forgotten those commitments and are now turning back to fossil fuels, not learning any of the lessons of the past, and also not sticking to their commitments on net zero. It is not going to be possible to reach net zero by 2050 if we are increasing our emissions from North sea oil. That is a significant mistake and more short-termism by the UK Government.
Huw Irranca-Davies is right: there is an opportunity here to meet our climate change emergency while also increasing energy resilience, cutting down on fuel poverty, and increasing local wealth by harnessing the economic potential of renewables for the Welsh economy, and that's what we're focused on.