Working group to review 2019 decision as concerns raised over costs and accountability

A CALL to bring greater transparency and democratic accountability to Pembrokeshire County Council’s 2019 decision to declare a climate emergency has received support from councillors.

The original declaration was made in May 2019, following a notice of motion by Cllr Joshua Beynon. He urged the council to back the global consensus that climate change poses a serious risk to future generations, and to take “bold, decisive action” to confront what he called “truly catastrophic” climate change.

The council voted to commit to becoming a zero-carbon local authority by 2030.

Opposition voices

Not all members were supportive at the time. Cllr Mike Stoddart described the motion as “virtue signalling on stilts”, arguing that individual lifestyle choices—such as limiting travel and growing vegetables—were more meaningful.

“The idea that we can decarbonise the economy by 2030 is for people with fairies in the garden,” he said at the time. He also warned that radical decarbonisation efforts risk disproportionately harming the poorest in society.

New motion tabled

At the May 2025 full council meeting, Cllr Stoddart submitted a new notice of motion calling for a politically balanced working group to review the 2019 climate emergency declaration.

His motion cited ongoing turbulence in global financial markets, the UK’s public finance challenges, a projected funding gap at Pembrokeshire County Council, and the UK Government’s softening of green transition policies—including delays to EV targets and heat pump mandates—as justification for a re-evaluation.

The proposed seven-member group would assess:

• The effect of the emergency declaration on council tax levels, and whether this conflicts with anti-poverty policies;
• The cost of decarbonising council housing and any impact on the ability to build new homes;
• The actual contribution of the council’s decarbonisation efforts to reducing global temperature risks;
• Any other adverse impacts on residents’ wellbeing.

Scrutiny and stalled reports

Cllr Stoddart’s motion was referred to the council’s corporate overview and scrutiny committee in June. There, he pointed out that a previous motion by Cllr Aaron Carey had promised bi-annual reports on the costs of reaching net zero—but those assessments, he claimed, have not been provided.

“By my reckoning, three of these six-monthly anniversaries have now passed without any cost-benefit analyses being made available,” said Cllr Stoddart. “We need to inject a degree of transparency and democratic accountability into the authority’s net zero deliberations.”

He added: “The UK is responsible for just under one per cent of global CO2 emissions, and Pembrokeshire’s population is roughly one five-hundredth of that. If PCC ceased to exist, it would make no difference whatsoever to the Earth’s climate.”

Cautious support

Cllr Huw Murphy backed the proposal, saying: “I think it’s something we need to look at; ultimately, can we afford it?”

Deputy Leader Cllr Paul Miller said there was “no objection” to forming a working group, and that the cost data was already available—it just needed to be compiled.

All members of the scrutiny committee, except Cllr Beynon, agreed to recommend to full council the reinstatement of the Net Zero Working Group to review the contents of the notice of motion and, subject to that review, to consider the future of the Net Zero Action Plan.