Net Zero

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:33 pm on 15 November 2022.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:33, 15 November 2022

That's a very important question near the end of today's questions, because it goes to the heart of the dilemma that the Welsh Government will face after Thursday's autumn statement. If the Chancellor decides to solve his dilemmas by taking an axe to our capital budgets, then inevitably that will have an impact on our ability to invest the £1.8 billion that Dr Hussain mentioned. It's a targeted capital investment in our response to the climate and nature emergency. Our ambition will be to go on making that investment. If we are serious about the climate emergency, then we have to invest today in those infrastructure projects that allow us to make a better response to it in the future, whether that is in the investment we are making in flood relief, whether it's in the way in which we are able to redesign some of our twenty-first century schools projects to make sure that buildings play their part in reaching net zero. All of that is dependent upon the capital budget available to the Welsh Government. I can give the Member this assurance: when the Cabinet sits down to make what could very well be, as Peter Fox said, some very difficult decisions, we will always be guided by the principles of the Well-being of Future Generations Act (Wales) Act 2015, which is that, in balancing the very challenging decisions of today, we always have in mind as well the impact that those decisions will have on future generations.