AM PROUD OF WELSH GOVERNMENT ENVIRONMENTAL RECORD

Mick Antoniw, Assembly Member for Pontypridd has praised the Welsh Government’s environmental record and its plans to help tackle the climate emergency.  In an interview with local environmental campaigner Caspar Harris, Mick Antoniw noted that the Welsh Government became the first nation in the UK to declare a climate emergency and has achieved world-class recycling rates.

Mick Antoniw also discussed his involvement in a range of local environmental campaigns including a proposed Llantrisant to Cardiff Metro, reducing emissions levels on the A470 and protecting wildlife on ‘banked’ development land as well as environmental campaigns that have already been successful, such as the decision not to build the M4 relief road and the banning of fracking in Wales.

Speaking about the Welsh Government’s action plan, which details 100 environmental pledges, Mick Antoniw said:

“We are doing some great things with 100 actions in our plan, including accelerating the deployment of renewable energy, making our homes more energy efficient and reducing fuel poverty, planting over 800,000 trees, and creating more than 840 free water refill stations.  But we all agree that we can and need to do more.”

Here are the top 8 things the Welsh Government doing to tackle the climate emergency in Wales:

1. Setting ambitious targets to cut carbon emissions. We’re raising our carbon reduction targets to 95% with an ambition to get to net zero by 2050.
2. Making it easier for people to use their car less. We’re investing £30 million on improving active travel, making it easier for people to walk, cycle and use public transport.
3. Banning some single use plastics. We’re banning and restricting 10 common single use plastics including straws, stirrers and cotton buds, plastic cutlery, polystyrene food packaging and drinks containers.
4. Tackling the nature emergency. We’re addressing diversity loss and increasing ecosystem resilience by creating a National Forest and investing £500,000 in community-led projects to improve biodiversity and minimise waste.
5. Investing in the circular economy. We’re supporting businesses in Wales to reuse existing materials and minimise waste.
6. More electric vehicle charging points. We’re developing an Electric Vehicle charging strategy and have allocated more than £500,000 for charging infrastructure. We’ve also started introducing electric buses into public transport.
7. Establishing world-leading renewable industries. We’ve secured nearly £20 million in EU investment to establish a world leading marine energy sector in Wales.
8. Promising to keep the conversation going. We’ve established a permanent Cabinet Sub-Committee to keep climate emergency a priority at the highest level in government. We promise to keep conversations going, especially with young people through our eco-schools and Size of Wales programmes, and the new curriculum.