The Welsh Assembly Government has revealed that they are preparing to bring Wales and Britain out of the carbon age by replacing pitheads with wind turbines.
Wales is the first country in the world to have officially reported its "ecological footprint," showing the measure of its impact on the planet's resources. Jane Davidson, the environment minister for the Welsh Assembly Government, has confirmed that the country's carbon footprint grew by 1.5 per cent each year between 1990 and 2003. However, she also states
that Wales now has policies to stop this footprint growing any larger by 2020, and that such new policies may even reduce it by this date.
The report confirms that in 2003 Wales' resource consumption was 5.19 hectares (12.8 acres) per person: the amount of land required to provide the resources to sustain each of its people. This is actually smaller than both England and Scotland's regions, though if everyone on earth lived at this level they would need three planets the size of Earth in order to sustain themselves.
Though its attempts to reduce its emissions are less ambitious than - and somewhat overshadowed by - those of New Zealand, Iceland, Costa Rica and Norway (who all plan to be entirely carbon neutral by 2020), they are certainly more admirable than plans outlined by the UK Government.
In an attempt to decrease its current impact on the planet's resources, the Welsh Administration (a coalition between Labour and Plaid Cymru) aim to make renewables the source of all its electricity by 2020. Westminster's target is only 40 per cent.
The Welsh Administration aims to reduce carbon emissions by 3 per cent a year in areas that it controls - the same amount British ministers refused to incorporate into their Climate Change Bill. Their plans also include making all new buildings carbon neutral by 2011.
The Welsh recycling target - 70 per cent of municipal waste by 2011 - is certainly more ambitious than England's somewhat weaker target of 50 per cent.
The Administration also defied Gordon Brown's plan to push further Nuclear power station plans nationwide, stating it "sees no need for nuclear new-build in Wales."
All of the policies outlined in the "Environment Strategy for Wales" aim to make Wales as ecologically green as its famous valleys: "By 2026, we want to see our distinctive Welsh environment thriving and contributing to the economic and social wellbeing and health of all of the people of Wales."
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This post was written by Ben Willis on May 30, 2008