Thank you Deputy Presiding Officer. This debate is exceptionally timely. The cost-of-living crisis is causing real pain to ordinary people on a day-to-day basis, as is raised in the Senedd, and at a time of climate and nature emergencies and of course increasing international conflict. In several ways, these challenges that face our planet, challenges that affect everyone, albeit unequally, are all underlined by a common theme, namely energy. The climate emergency has been caused in many ways by human behaviour through the unsustainable use of energy—in other words, the burning of fossil fuels since the industrial revolution. The cost-of-living crisis has intensified as a result of high energy bills, and the war in Ukraine, along with the international community's response to that war, is characterised by conflict based on energy supply.

Thousands upon thousands of households here are facing appalling conditions over the winter, and the new Chancellor in Westminster is cutting the period during which support will be available. Businesses along with people's health and well-being are all in the balance, and to make things worse, there is a warning of blackouts on the coldest days. History, Deputy Presiding Officer, is repeating itself. The major powers in global politics are in conflict; there are tensions between the world's major players, and at home, we are facing a domestic crisis. As has been said already, Wales is in a particularly vulnerable position as a result of our housing stock that is so energy inefficient, and as a result of the poverty that has blighted our communities for decades. Our people will now experience these crises with particular severity.