4. Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: Renewable Energy Targets

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:22 pm on 24 January 2023.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 4:22, 24 January 2023

Thank you very much, Joyce. It's a very good point. We've been working for quite some time now with a range of stakeholders—and I know you know this—to make sure that we do a whole range of things. First of all, we attract the right kind of investment, and there are enormous issues with that. We don't want greenwashing, for example, but we do want proper investment in renewables and in biodiversity as well. We need to make sure that we have the right financial instruments in place to do that. It was one of the best things coming out of COP15, the amount of learning that was being done globally on how to get those right. It was a real relief to me to see that we were not alone in trying to make the distinction between those two things.

The second is that we've been doing an enormous amount of work, both with our port authorities and the infrastructure surrounding them, and with our supply chains, to make sure that the supply chains are as ready as they can be to meet the challenge that's to come from the new floating wind, but also the ongoing onshore wind and other renewables, and that we can take advantage of the new hydrogen research projects all over Wales, to make sure that we can get as much green hydrogen out of the new renewables that are going. Milford Haven is well placed to take advantage of some of that and have been working very hard on it.

The last piece is that we'll be doing the supply chain analysis, so that where there are gaps, we can actually proactively work, with our port authorities in particular, to make sure that they are also reaching out to people who could come in and fill those supply chain gaps, capturing inward investment and skills investment to make sure that we take the best advantage of this.

My colleague Vaughan Gething and I will be bringing forward a net-zero skills plan. That's being trialled with industry at the moment to make sure that it's fit for purpose and that it's futureproofed. We need to capture all of the green skills that we need for the future to make sure that we have one of the most sustainable economic countries in the world; I'm very keen on that ambition. And your area will be very much pivotal in that, both for its industrial clusters, but, actually, of course, for its abundant natural resources both around the coast and on land. So, as we go forward, I'm sure we will continue to work in absolute lockstep with the manufacturing industries and the Haven authority itself, as we do that. I'm very sorry I couldn't make that evening meeting, but I have met with them on a number of occasions. And if you want to invite me down there, I'd be very happy to come again. Diolch.