Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you to the Member for raising the important issues in today's debate and proposal. We all know and agree that the use of digital data and technology is essential in providing opportunities that benefit people, communities, public services and businesses. We also know that our increasing reliance on digital can increase carbon emissions through the energy used in processing and storing large amounts of data and running digital platforms and technology—most Members have referred to this in their contributions.

I recognise the Member's policy intent in the motion and agree with its sentiment. In fact, the Member, in opening, recognised that an amount of work is already taking place in this field. However, including it in the Welsh Government legislative timetable would be a genuine challenge, as it is already under considerable pressure and may face more, depending on external events.

Our 'Digital strategy for Wales' already articulates how digital can actually help to reduce carbon emissions overall and achieve our net-zero ambitions by designing public services effectively, using data smartly and openly, and modernising technology. And of course, our future generations Act places a responsibility on public bodies to put sustainability at the heart of all policy decisions, and that includes investment in digital and data.

From a public sector perspective, as was acknowledged, the Centre for Digital Public Services is supporting organisations to develop effective digital services centred around the needs of users. That means using technology more efficiently, minimising carbon usage and reducing the need for travel. The centre recently undertook a discovery exercise and made recommendations on how digital can help towards net zero. They include the importance of measuring the carbon footprint of services and moving to shared services and platforms. The centre also recommends building sustainability into digital procurement. Social value is increasingly becoming part of the evaluation criteria for procurement, and that includes sustainability considerations. The centre is working on next steps to ensure delivery against these important recommendations.

A key ambition in our digital strategy is providing improved digital services through better and ethical use of data. Common use of agreed standards is vital to achieving this. By ensuring that data is easily accessible and published openly, or shared securely, we can minimise duplication of data and its storage, one of the key points made by the Member. This reduces both costs and carbon footprint. Openly reporting on the environmental performance of services also ensures accountability and transparency of energy use.

As we know, data is needed for almost everything at this point, and will be more so in the future. Data centres, as mentioned by Sarah Murphy, play a critical role in storing the data, software and hardware that underpin the services that we all use. They're integral to the delivery chain and are, of course, consumers of energy and power. There is, of course, a major responsibility on companies to reduce the carbon impact of the data that they hold. We know that the industry is taking this seriously and is reducing power consumption, switching to renewable and low-carbon energy sources and driving efficiencies, including, of course, the use of excess heat, and, again, Sarah Murphy mentioned this in her contribution.

In Wales, this is happening too. We expect to see more data centres in Wales in the future and want them to be built to current and future environmental standards. Our emissions reduction plan, Net Zero Wales, sets ourselves ambitious national targets. It highlights the role that digital infrastructure can play in decarbonisation, as well as decarbonising the energy supply itself. To support our ambitions, we'll publish the net-zero skills plan shortly; that will set out our commitment to net-zero skills by investing in people and talent as crucial drivers towards a stronger, fairer, greener economy. Digital skills will be one of the cross-cutting themes.

Our innovation strategy will also enable the Welsh Government to address carbon measurement and highlight the use of digital tools in helping us to fully understand the impact we have on carbon reduction. As I've said, I recognise that there is, of course, a digital footprint, and that footprint has a carbon footprint.

I do want to thank the Member for the way in which he opened the debate, in recognising that we are taking action, and the cross-party group is broadly supportive of the digital strategy. But there is both the carbon footprint to digital activity, which is real, but also, as has been highlighted, a real lack of awareness that there is a carbon footprint to digital activity. Part of our challenge is what we can do to both raise awareness and action to address that.

Now, I'm not convinced that extra legislation is the answer. However, there is always a balance as to when legislation can and may not deliver the policy progress that we all agree upon. So, I look forward to the Member further developing the proposal. The Welsh Government will not oppose the proposal today; we will abstain and Welsh Government-supporting backbenchers will have a free vote. I think there is more for us to discuss about the proposals that have been outlined today, practical action, and our willingness to actually consider that in the future.