Plaid Cymru has relaxed by five years its target for decarbonising Wales’ energy system.
In the party’s manifesto for next month’s elections to the Senned, the Welsh devolved assembly, the nationalist party has set a target that the country should achieve net-zero carbon emissions and meet its energy demands entirely from renewable sources by 2035.
This date is 15 years ahead of the 2050 target for cutting Wales’ emissions to net zero, advised by the Climate Change Committee.
The manifesto, published yesterday (8 April), says the current 2050 goal for achieving net zero is “not fast enough” and that Plaid will amend Wales’ emissions reduction pathway this year if it forms the next Welsh government.
However, the 2035 target is less demanding than that set out in the party’s 2019 general election manifesto, which said Wales should be self-sufficient in renewable energy by 2030.
A YouGov poll, carried out by ITN and Cardiff University last month, showed Plaid in third place in voting intentions for next month’s elections, on 23 per cent.
The poll also showed that Labour, which currently holds power in Cardiff with the support of the assembly’s sole Liberal Democrat member, looks set to lose seats on 6 May, making the revival of its past coalition with Plaid the most likely election outcome.
The manifesto says Plaid would pursue the roll-out of “energy positive” houses which are capable of exporting surplus energy to the electricity grid.
The use of fossil fuel energy would be banned from new-build housing from 2022 and all new homes would have to be “highly energy efficient” from the following year onwards.
Plaid has also committed to the stalled Swansea Tidal Lagoon project, which would become the focus of a centre for development of renewable technology in Wales’ second city.
And the manifesto confirms Plaid’s commitment to establish Ynni Cymru as an energy development company and says local authorities would be required to set local greenhouse gas emissions budgets.
In its manifesto for next month’s election, also published this week, Labour has said it will support innovation in new renewable energy technology, including a Tidal Lagoon Challenge.
It also says the party would enforce a moratorium on incineration plants and boost renewable energy generation by public bodies and community groups in Wales by over 100MW by 2026.