The Welsh Government has set a target of reaching net zero by 2040, ten years ahead of the rest of the UK. Cabinet minister Llyr Gruffydd announced the ambition and said the new Plaid administration had started work on Wales' first Climate and Nature Action Plan to address climate change and nature loss.
Background and changing targets
Wales' net zero target, which means adding no more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than are removed, has changed several times. The previous Labour government published a strategic plan for the public sector to hit net zero by 2030. It also spoke of having a 10-year action pathway for the entire nation from 2025-2035 under the 2021 co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru.
Ahead of the 2024 general election, Plaid Cymru said it wanted to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions in Wales by 2035. Then during the Senedd election campaign this year, party leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said that was unrealistic and pushed it back five years.
Plan details
The new administration in Wales now says it will set up a climate and nature board, chaired by cabinet minister Llyr Gruffydd, to help shape the plan which spells out how it will address climate change and nature loss. The UK Labour government has a UK net zero target of 2050. Last year, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said her party would not pursue that 2050 target, saying the target is an "impossible" political fiction that drives up energy bills and harms the economy.
Wales' plan is described as a "cross-government programme of action to support sustainable development, strengthen climate and nature resilience, improve environmental sustainability, support a just transition, and chart a practical pathway towards net zero by 2040 and substantive nature recovery by 2050."
Challenges and response
The plan will look at things already happening, including flooding affecting homes and businesses and recent wildfires damaging landscapes and habitats. It will also look at pressure on food and farming, polluted rivers, declining wildlife, hotter summers, coastal change, and growing risks to health, communities and local economies.
Rural affairs minister Mr Gruffydd said: "This is not about treating climate and nature as separate problems - they are connected problems and we need to respond to them in a connected way.
"In developing the plan we will bring people, communities, partners and organisations into the process of shaping solutions, drawing on their experiences as well as the evidence.
"Together, we will look for opportunities to take action across government and society that tackles the causes of these challenges, not just their symptoms.
"This means protecting and restoring the natural systems Wales depends on, while also helping us deliver our wider commitments to healthier communities, more resilient places, a stronger and fairer economy, rural resilience, cleaner air and water, warmer homes, green skills and jobs, sustainable food and farming, and better places to live."
