Campaign condemns end of council net zero pledge

A national environmental campaign group has criticised Walsall Council after it voted to remove its climate emergency declaration.

At a meeting of full council on 27 July, Reform leaders described the 2019 pledge to take action against global warming as "virtue signalling".

Councillors Elaine Williams and Nicky Barker described it as performative and argued it hadn't delivered benefits for Walsall taxpayers.

Climate Emergency UK accused the council of hypocrisy. Partnerships director, Isaac Beevor, said now "wasn't the time" to remove targets, but to "redouble our efforts".

"Scrapping climate targets during a fourth major heatwave and as fires rage across the UK, France and Europe, is extreme and yet more virtue signalling.

West Midlands Fire Service said it was called to a large grassland fire at Barr Beacon, on the edge of Walsall on Sunday.

Eight fire crews were called to tackle the blaze at the nature reserve.

The local authority's attempts to become net zero have so far scored a "miserable" 23 per cent in the campaign group's audit of local authorities.

"Walsall Council lows in the scorecards because there hasn't been the political will and national support to take further climate action," Beevor said.

Through the Climate Change Act the UK is obliged by law to reach net zero, nationally, by 2050.

Net zero means balancing the amount of planet-warming "greenhouse" gases produced by human activities with the amount being actively removed from the atmosphere.

Reaching net zero CO2 emissions is essential to limit global warming, according to the United Nation's climate body.

Williams said: "A climate emergency declaration is not the only way to make progress.

"What matters most is delivering tangible outcomes that improve everyday life for the people of Walsall and focusing our limited resources where they are most needed."

The move follows a trend among other Reform-run councils in axing climate emergency declarations.

Suffolk County Council announced last month it had reversed the declaration which was made in 2019 when the council was being led by the Conservatives.

Wakefield Council, in West Yorkshire, also voted to rescind its climate and biodiversity emergency declaration.

Its leader, Karl Johnson, said the focus would instead be on energy efficiency and cost of living interventions that "provide practical help to residents".

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