Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:45 pm on 8 November 2022.
Thank you. I think that you are right; it is really important that every country shows leadership, and I certainly think the UK leadership, being the member state, should do so. I'm very pleased that the Prime Minister changed his mind and is attending COP27, because I certainly think the UK Government do need to step up to the plate. As a country, here in Wales, we absolutely show leadership. I've attended COPs myself, when I was the Minister with responsibility for the environment. Certainly other states and regions looked to us to see what we had done in our fight against the climate emergency.
You mentioned renewable energy, and we have certainly increased significantly the amount of renewable energy that we produce here in Wales. I don't have the figure to hand, but certainly we had seen an increase, I thought, year on year, over the past few years. Obviously, the Minister for Climate Change recently announced the renewable energy development and she will be bringing forward the strategy as soon as possible, and is making a statement this afternoon.