: I do welcome this
statement from the Minister, so I thank the Minister for that.
It's absolutely right that our minds are focused on the changes
that we all have to make to reach net zero, but I do believe it's
going to take some bold and tough decisions to reach the true net
zero, and I'd like this to be reflected in everything we do as
Governments and everything we do in society. One of the key areas
I see is public sector pension investments, and I'd be very keen
to encourage the Minister, her officials, and Members from across
the Chamber to read my piece for the Welsh Fabians, which has
been published today on this. Now, Minister, I do recognise that
we don't have the competence to do this, but I do believe there
are other ways of achieving this. For example, we could include
public sector pension fund investments in our carbon neutral
public sector targets in 2030. Now, this would provide, in my
opinion, the impetus to the campaign and send signals to public
sector investment funds to create products that don't invest in
oil and gas. So, therefore, do I have your support, Minister, and
the influence of your ministry for climate change—the Welsh
Government's ministry for climate change—to help strengthen this
campaign as we take it forward?
(Minister for Climate
Change): Diolch, Jack. I think the very simple answer to
that is 'yes'. I think we absolutely need to make sure that the
public sector across Wales, including its pension
funds, de-invest from deforestation and oil and gas
exploration as fast as possible. I'm not yet aware of the full
detail of the deforestation announcements that have been made
from COP26, but I fervently hope that they do include things like
the investment of pension
funds from the public sector and so on, and I will
certainly be working alongside my colleague, , to put pressure on the UK
Government to make sure that we do invest UK pension
funds in the right way. You are absolutely right in
identifying it as being outside of our competence, but
nevertheless we are happy to bring our influence to bear in that
regard.
To read all the exchanges, CLICK HERE
