MIKE HEDGES ASKS WELSH GOVERNMENT TO CONFIRM SUPPORT FOR SWANSEA TIDAL LAGOON.

MIKE HEDGES ASKS WELSH GOVERNMENT TO CONFIRM SUPPORT FOR SWANSEA TIDAL LAGOON.

Speaking from His office, local MS, Mike Hedges said…. ‘ I am pleased that we have had an opportunity to discuss climate change and energy policy early in the new Senedd; it sets the tone for the period of government in front of us.

The Swansea Tidal Lagoon is exactly the sort of project that the Welsh Government should be championing as part of its Climate Change Agenda. It offers clean green energy, jobs within the green technology field, and the chance for Wales to be leading the world in tidal generated electricity.

I hope that the Welsh Government will work with UK Government, Swansea City Council and Private Sector to deliver the Tidal Lagoon in Swansea Bay within this 6^th Senedd.

Mike Hedges MS

14:21:44

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Can I thank e the Deputy Minister for the statement? Starting with the science, carbon oxidates to form carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and traps heat. We know this because Venus, which has mainly a carbon dioxide atmosphere, despite being much further away from the sun than Mercury, is substantially hotter. Whilst saying these few words, I’ve been expelling carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through the act of breathing. Does the Minister agree that reducing our carbon footprint by exporting industries that produce carbon dioxide will not help reduce global warming but will probably make it worse?

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Can I say how really pleased I am with what the Minister said on tree planting? I raised it yesterday in the business statement. If everybody in Wales with a garden planted one tree, we’d have 1 million trees planted in a year. We did have a scheme in the 1970s that worked. I represent the lower Swansea valley, which has gone from a moon-like landscape to being now very much tree lined and that shows what can be done.

will the Minister continue to support the tidal lagoon in Swansea? This is an opportunity to create green energy that will last forever.

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Lee Waters MS

14:23:14

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Thank you for that, and particularly for the references to Venus and the moon. It’s not often that they feature in our discussions on climate change. I completely agree, as I’ve just set out, on the role that tree planting on a family and community level can have. I’m very keen to understand what barriers might stand in the way and make some recommendations to the Senedd before the end of the summer term on how we can start to make further progress in that regard.

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In terms of the tidal lagoon, Mike Hedges will know that the programme for government contains a commitment to a challenge fund. We are very keen about the impact and potential that marine renewables, in their broadest sense, can have, and lagoons are obviously an important part of that spectrum of technology. We need to do thousands of little things, but we also need to do some big game-changing things. The lagoon, the micro hydro, as well as individual tree planting, all have their part to play in responding to the science that’s been spelled out to us today by the UK Climate Change Committee