6. What discussions has the Welsh Government had regarding the disinvestment of public sector pension funds from fossil fuels? OQ58703

I thank Jack Sargeant, Llywydd. We encourage the Wales pension partnership to more and faster action in moving towards net zero. The Minister for Finance and Local Government has invited pension fund leads to address the partnership council for Wales during Wales Climate Week later this month, setting out their contribution to achieving net zero.

I thank the First Minister for that answer, and I'm grateful for the commitment from the Ministers in your Cabinet. Llywydd, I have declared an interest with this question because of my committed and continued involvement with the Wales disinvestment campaign, but the clock is ticking, First Minister, on the time that we have to avoid serious environmental catastrophe and the chaos, hunger and conflict that come with it. Huge amounts of our public sector pension money continue to be invested within fossil fuels, and I'm grateful to colleagues within the Senedd for the support for my motion earlier this year. If Wales does set these targets and public sector pension schemes disinvest by 2030, we would be the first nation in the world to do so.

First Minister, today we celebrate 100 years of Labour winning in Wales. We are still bold and we are still ambitious, and we have to be the bold and ambitious party so that our future generations and our younger generations, like those from Hawarden High School in my constituency in the gallery today, can go on to live successful lives in a sustainable world. First Minister, will you meet with me and fellow campaigners to discuss further how we can progress this bold proposal?

Llywydd, I congratulate Jack Sargeant on all the work that he carries out in this area. He led a very successful debate on the floor of the Senedd here back in May and he's right, of course, to draw our attention to the fact that it is the lives of our young people that will be most profoundly affected by these decisions. It was a pleasure to meet a series of students from Hawarden High School on my way into the Chamber earlier today.

In practical terms, Llywydd, the only public sector pension fund that makes investments in Wales is the local government fund. Other pension schemes—the health service pension scheme, the civil service pension scheme, and so on—don't have investments; they rely on today's workers to pay today's pensioners. The only pension fund that has investments is the local government pension scheme, and while we must encourage them to be bold and to be ambitious, and to set targets in the way that Jack Sargeant suggests, in the end it has to be their targets and their ambition because the Welsh Government has no statutory ability to impose any targets on them.

The good news, Llywydd, I think, is that there are strong signs that Welsh local government pension funds are moving in this direction and that they are doing the things that Jack Sargeant asks them to do. The Clwyd pension fund, in which he will have a particular interest, earlier this year has formed a partnership with an investment firm specifically in order to move its investments into clean energy production and clean energy production here in Wales. It has done what the Member suggests: it has set a target of net zero by 2045 and an interim target of carbon reduction of 50 per cent by 2030. The campaign would like them to go further and to go faster, and that's why campaigns are important. I'm very happy to give an undertaking that I would meet Jack Sargeant to discuss what further can be done to encourage pension funds to move in that direction.