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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Will Hayward

What the Welsh Government has done since it declared a climate change emergency

It has now been three months since the Welsh Government declared climate emergecy.

The decision was in response to the rapid heating of the planet that will, according to the leading experts in the world, lead to global environmental disaster.

The declaration of a climate emergency is intended to signal the intention of policy makers to take drastic action on global heating.

WalesOnline have asked the Welsh Government to up date us on what steps have been taken to combat the climate crisis since it declared the climate emergency.

A Welsh Government spokesman said: "Our declaration of a climate emergency on April 29 was intended to trigger a wave of action at home and internationally, from our own communities and businesses to parliaments and governments around the world.

"Tackling climate change is not an issue which can be left to individuals or to the free market. It requires collective action and the government has a central role in making collective action possible.

"The following list is not exhaustive and highlights just some of the new investments and proposals brought forward since the declaration of a climate emergency in April. Further announcements will be made in the coming weeks and months."

The cash spent addressing the emergency have included:

  • Improving active travel, making it easier for people to make fewer journeys by car by making it easier to walk, cycle and use public transport. Amount spent £30m.

  • Projects across Wales to address biodiversity loss and wider ecosystem resilience. Amount spent £12m.

  • Replacing 111 ambulances with cleaner, greener vehicles, including fitting all new non-emergency patient transport vehicles with solar panels to reduce energy consumption. Amount spent £13.5m.

  • Fund launched to support businesses to implement innovative approaches to minimising waste. Amount spent £6.5m.

  • Community led projects to improve biodiversity and minimise waste. Amount spent £500,000.

The declaration of a climate emergency has been a key demand of recent climate protests that have brought UK cities including Cardiff to a stop.

Both the youth climate strikes and the Extinction Rebellion groups had called for a climate emergency.

In response to the Welsh Government's action an Extinction Rebellion spokeswoman said: “We welcome these initiatives which demonstrate that the Welsh Government is beginning to take the climate and ecological emergency seriously. It would be good to see a target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 to demonstrate they really understand the severity of the problem.

"An important part of the work they can do is to work with the central government to encourage them to take this issue more seriously. We would also want to see a commitment to enacting a Citizens Assembly to ensure that democratic decisions about policy are made."

The group did call on Welsh Government to take further action to inform the public about the scale of the crisis.

The Extinction Rebellion spokeswoman added: "As part of their role in telling the truth about the emergency, as well as including these issues in the school curriculum, it is also necessary to ensure the general public are fully aware of the dire situation we will be in if nothing is done now to reduce the impacts of climate change and the ecological disaster. Thus they need to take every opportunity to raise the issue and maybe create a promotional campaign about it.”

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