Diolch, Llywydd. Llywydd, last month, world leaders came together at COP27 to focus on the climate emergency. Following difficult negotiations, there was both hope and disappointment. Hope came from the agreement for developed nations to create a fund as early as next year to cover loss and damage. The fund will support the most vulnerable nations and communities in their battles with the impacts of climate change. But disappointment came from not making further progress on the phasing out of fossil fuels, which the Welsh Government committed to at COP26 by joining the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance.

This week is the start of COP15, not a climate COP, but a biodiversity COP, which I will be attending. The climate and nature emergencies are intertwined and are not some distant future global crisis. This combined crisis is already upon us, and our vision, ambition and action must achieve a better, fairer and greener future for us all.

In June, my written statement to the Senedd highlighted the publication of the latest greenhouse gas emission data. In the statement, I said the raw data indicated we had met our carbon budget 1 targets. I also committed to publishing our legislative final statement for our first budgetary period in December. Today, I am pleased to confirm that the Welsh Government has met both the first carbon budget and the 2020 emissions reduction interim target. Following advice from the Climate Change Committee, we set an interim target for 2020 at a 27 per cent reduction in emissions compared to our baseline year of 1990. The final net Welsh emissions account for our 2020 interim target saw a 39 per cent reduction. Therefore, the 2020 interim target has not only been met, but surpassed. The first carbon budget was set at an average reduction of 23 per cent emission reduction compared to our baseline year. The final net Welsh emissions account saw a 28 per cent reduction. Therefore, our first carbon budget has also been met and also surpassed.

I am therefore publishing Welsh Government's 'final statement' for the budgetary period and interim year as required under the Environment (Wales) Act 2016. This final statement is the first of its kind for Wales and is a factual report looking back at carbon budget 1. It sets out our accounting methodology and the reasons why we met our targets. Importantly, the final statement contains an annex that estimates the consumption emissions footprint for Wales for the carbon budget period. We estimate consumption emissions fluctuated slightly, with a small increase of approximately 2 per cent, over the budget period that the data is available. However, overall since 2001, the first available year of data, consumption emission estimates have shown a general downward trend, dropping approximately 27 per cent. Due to availability of statistics, it's not been possible to calculate the footprint for the entire budget period. The report covers the period of 2016-19 and there will therefore be an update to the annex in 2023 once the data is received and analysed. Whilst this statement is positive, I recognise there are challenges ahead, and we need to do much more to achieve our second carbon budget for 2021-26. Now is not the time for complacency, and we must maintain our focus on delivery of Net Zero Wales.

I am therefore pleased to also inform the Senedd that I will be launching a call for evidence on a just transition to net zero in Wales. Our first policy in Net Zero Wales committed to transitioning to net zero with social justice at its heart. We are now seeking evidence to identify where negative impacts and opportunities might appear and where they may aggregate. We aim to gather evidence on best practice. We are also seeking evidence of need for our communities, economy and infrastructure, so we can see where support can be targeted to ensure a just transition. Today, the Government is publishing the 'Welsh Government's Net Zero Strategic Plan', which will set out how it plans to achieve net zero as an organisation, and the Minister for Economy will be publishing a net-zero skills plan next year. These are all important actions in Net Zero Wales.

Of course, the climate is already changing as the increasing number of devastating weather events globally proves. They provide a sobering reminder that as well as reducing emissions, we also need to build resilience to a changing climate. Climate change is bringing risks to our communities, infrastructure, natural resources and health that we must address. Therefore, finally, today, I am pleased to inform the Senedd that I'm also publishing a progress report on our current five-year national climate change adaptation plan, 'Prosperity for All: A Climate Conscious Wales'. The report shows the huge amount of work we are doing already to address the risks arising from climate change, but, as with our climate mitigation efforts, we must do more, and we will.

Our values and guiding principles set out in the programme for government put social justice and the climate emergency at the heart of our actions for this Senedd term, and it is of upmost importance to me that we deliver for the people of Wales and the future of our children. In terms of today's publications, final checks and typesetting is taking place and the final documents will be laid in the Senedd and uploaded to the website by the end of this term. Diolch.