Plaid Cymru MEP Jill Evans will be taking part tonight (Friday 2nd November, 6.30 p.m.) in a 'question-time' style debate at the YMCA, Newport. The event is one of three that Cynnal Cymru is organising to promote dialogue on sustainability and climate change.

Jill Evans MEP has been prominent in supporting sustainability issues. She said today:

"I welcome this initiative by Cynnal Cymru in organising the three events, and the question posed about the wet summer being bad luck or a symptom of climate change should prompt a good debate.

"Last week in the European Parliament, I highlighted the hypocrisy and posturing of the British government, as well as the Tories and Lib Dems on climate change. when UK Tory and Lib Dem MEPs joined forces to water down strong targets on CO2 emissions from cars in a parliamentary vote in Strasbourg*. This followed a u-turn this week by the UK government on its commitments to cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

"On a personal level, I made my 'one in four pledge', which is a commitment to make one in four of my journeys to Brussels or Strasbourg by train rather than plane."

NOTES

The two other events will be held in Wrexham and Carmarthen on 9th and 13th November, respectively, covering national and local issues relevant to sustainability and climate change.

Tonight's panel is: Chair: Sue Essex, former AM and government Minister, and a Cynnal Cymru board member. Panellists: Jill Evans, MEP and Deputy President of Plaid Cymru the Party of Wales; Mike Batt, head of Carbon Trust Wales; Dr Calvin Jones, Cardiff Business School; Rhian Connick, Head of National Federation of Women's Institutes in Wales and a Cynnal Cymru board member; Peter Davies, UK Sustainable Development Commissioner; and John Pockett of First Great Western.

*MEPs meeting in Strasbourg voted in favour of a 125g/km limit to be in place by 2015 following amendments by UK Tories and Lib Dems. A report published last week by Ms Evans' parliamentary group shows that only by setting a CO2 emissions limit for cars of 120g/km can the EU realistically hope achieve its target of a 20% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Carbon dioxide emissions need to be cut substantially in order to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Jill Evans has also taken part in the Friends of the Earth climate deal campaign, pledging to always vote in parliament to stop climate change and to push for 20% energy savings by 2020.