Oral - The Climate Change Commission for Wales

I am pleased to report on the most recent meeting of the Climate Change Commission for Wales, held on 25-26 March. During that meeting, I updated commission members on the activity being undertaken by the Welsh Assembly Government, including the launch of 'A Low Carbon Revolution’—the Welsh Assembly Government energy policy statement which sets out our ambitious agenda for low carbon energy in Wales—details on the new boiler scrappage scheme that was launched on 1 April to help up to 5,000 Welsh households to benefit from a significant improvement in the energy performance of their heating systems, and the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme Order 2010, which was approved on 23 February by the National Assembly for Wales, both Houses of Parliament and the other devolved legislatures, receiving Royal Assent in the Privy Council on 17 March. The Order came into force on the 1 April, the same date the scheme started. The Wales European Funding Office recently confirmed that over £30 million will be available for energy efficiency in the domestic sector from structural funds, and the detailed expression of interest for a strategic project has already been accepted.

On 4 March, I attended a high level summit in Paris. The summit was jointly organised by Île-de-France and the Climate Group and it involved 17 regions worldwide representing 150 million people, and networks of regions representing 200 to 300 regions. I met Presidents and Ministers for environment to discuss the way forward on climate change negotiations post-Copenhagen, especially ahead of the Council of Ministers for Environment of the European Union and the European Council. During the summit, there was an opportunity to highlight the achievements of the Network of Regional Government for Sustainable Development to date and those of the network’s members and Wales’s involvement with the territorial approach on climate change.

On the first day, the commission meeting focused on commenting on the emerging final draft of the climate change strategy for Wales. To inform these discussions, presentations were provided by Professor Kevin Anderson and Professor Gareth Wyn Jones. Professor Anderson presented the detailed findings of the work that the Climate Change Commission had commissioned from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research on the implications of emission reduction scenarios of 3 per cent, 6 per cent and 9 per cent. The presentation made clear the enormous scale of the challenge to reduce emissions to avoid dangerous climate change and the responsibility of developed countries to take decisive action.

Professor Gareth Wyn Jones presented the land use and climate change group’s report. The report provided a comprehensive assessment of the science relating to emissions from agriculture and land use, with a series of recommendations on options for future actions. The Minister for Rural Affairs is currently considering the report and its recommendations. Both presentations provided rich and challenging material for the commission and an excellent context for discussion of the Assembly Government’s draft climate change strategy and delivery plans. In discussing the strategy and accompanying delivery plans for emission reduction and adaptation, the commission made a number of suggestions to strengthen the documents. The wider contribution of communities, businesses and people across Wales will be critical to achieving our climate change targets, and we want this contribution to be fully reflected in the delivery plans for the strategy.

Commission members are working with their organisations, and within their sectors, to indentify the specific contribution that they are making towards the targets. Their contribution towards the 3 per cent target will be set out in detail and quantified in the emission reduction delivery plan. Two of Wales’s latest group of climate change champions, Rose Stevens and Jennifer Derrick, participated in the meeting and gave an update on their work. In addition, presentations were made by the Confederation of British Industry, Non Rhys from the Federation of Small Businesses and Hywel Thomas from the higher education sector on climate change and SMEs. The CBI presentation looked at the challenges facing UK business in the wake of Copenhagen and made very clear the continuing importance that the business sector places on tackling change. It also highlighted the work underway by the CBI and businesses to push for an international deal, to continue to promote action on climate change in business and to encourage action by Government. During the second day of the meeting, the commission discussed the UK climate change risk assessment and agreed the importance of ensuring that Welsh experts participate in all the sectoral workstreams for this project. The commission also received a presentation from Groundwork on the green dragon environmental standard, and a number of members agreed to get involved in discussions about its future development.

A major focus of the day was a discussion about the commission’s future role, remit and forward work programme. At this session, I confirmed my intention to step down as chair of the commission following publication of the climate change strategy in the autumn, to enable an independent, publicly appointed chair to take on the role. This will help the commission to consolidate its position as an advisory body that is truly independent and capable of creating cross-party and cross-sector consensus on climate change. I will remain as a full member of the commission to ensure that there is a continuing link to the Assembly Government and that all four main political parties are represented.

The commission also discussed how its role, and the role of members, would evolve in the future. There was agreement around the need for the commission to provide a strong public presence on the need for climate change action and also on the importance of the commission reviewing progress by the Assembly Government, and each sector, in delivering on our climate change objectives. Looking ahead, I am confident that, under the direction of a new chair, the commission will be well placed to continue to provide the expert advice and evidence needed to ensure that Wales delivers its ambitious climate change agenda.