‘Warm this Winter’ Wales Day of Action at the Senedd

A UK wide day of action, which took place today, brought together campaigners to raise awareness and demand action to address the cost of living and energy crises.

In Wales, Climate Cymru, which is a network of over 400 organisations and 14,000 individuals from across Wales, invited people to join their Day of Action at 12pm at the Senedd.

The campaigners, as part of ‘Warm this Winter Wales’, launched a petition to the Welsh Government, calling for emergency support for vulnerable households, an ambitious energy efficiency programme, upscaling of low-cost renewables, and an end to fossil fuels in Wales.

Bethan Sayed, Campaigns Coordinator for Climate Cymru said: “The cost of living, energy and climate crises have shared problems and shared solutions.

“Campaigners wore yellow as a symbol of warmth and took yellow scarves and props to create a web of people around a large petition padlock of Warm this Winter, which was ‘unlocked’ to unleash the solutions to the cost of living, energy and climate crises.

“These include more support for vulnerable people, an ambitious energy efficiency programme, investment in renewables and freeing Wales from fossil fuels.

“It was laid at the door of the Senedd – to show that Warm this Winter has the solutions.

“We will launched the petition to the Welsh Government online today, calling for the ideas to be put into practice so as to create a sustainable, equal and green Wales for the future”.

Real solutions

Activist Rose Beardmore said: “I went to the demonstration because I’m a single mother who is struggling and I want people to recognise the struggles. Things can change, it’s time for change, but nobody wants to make changes. They think the little people don’t matter, well we do, and we are coming so that we can be heard.”

Haf Elgar from Friends of the Earth said: “So many of us are struggling to cope with soaring energy bills, with as many as 45% of homes facing fuel poverty. We must provide emergency support for people to keep warm this winter, and invest in real solutions for the future – like home insulation, more renewables and stopping our dependence on fossil fuels.

“We must tackle the cost of living, energy and climate crises together. That’s why we’re part of the Warm this Winter campaign calling on the Welsh Government to take action and make it a priority to keep Wales warm this winter – and for winters to come.”

Daniel Therkelsen from Coal Action Network said: “Coal is not – and for the sake of our future, cannot be – the answer to how we keep warm this winter. It remains the dirtiest fossil fuel and leading driver of climate change globally.

“The Welsh Government should follow the recent example of Scotland to rule out all new coal mining. Anything short of this makes a mockery of the Well-being of Future Generations Act and reaching net-zero”.

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Find out more information about the campaign and sign the petition here