Reform councillor claims local authority shouldn’t worry about reducing carbon dioxide emissions
Anthony Lewis – Local democracy reporter
A Reform UK councillor has claimed that the council he sits on shouldn’t worry about reducing its carbon dioxide emissions.
Merthyr Tydfil Councillor Andrew Barry questioned whether the local authority should be worried at all about carbon dioxide emissions going up.
A recent meeting of the council’s Sustainable Merthyr Tydfil committee heard from officers that the reason for the 28.5% increase in total carbon dioxide emissions in 2024/2025 was the leisure trust properties becoming part of the council’s reporting portfolio now.
They said the two sites that have been the main reason for the increase are Aberfan and Merthyr Tydfil Leisure Centre swimming pools.
Investment
But they said that energy consumption at Merthyr Tydfil Leisure Centre has been reduced by around 50% over the last few years because of solar panels and LED lighting but added that Aberfan is one building where they could probably do more with investment.
Officers said they try and work in line with Welsh Government carbon reduction targets which includes net zero in operation by 2030 which officers said is very difficult or impossible to achieve because they’d need £30m or £40m to do that.
They said they probably need to set their more realistic internal targets.
Cllr Barry said that China and India are contributing massively to carbon emissions and said “our contribution is negligible.”
“If there’s a financial element, we need to start questioning what we are doing with carbon dioxide reduction.”
He claimed that there was “a bit of a drought” of carbon dioxide on the planet at the moment.
He asked: “Should we be worried about our carbon dioxide going up at all to be honest?”
Research
Cllr Barry also claimed that if you do a little research “it backs up the idea no we shouldn’t be doing anything about it.”
He said it’s about having a broader view of where they are with carbon dioxide and it alarms him when he sees they’ve got to reduce it when he claimed “it goes against the scientific community.”
“I would suggest we don’t need carbon dioxide reduction, that’s what I’m suggesting.”
Officers said they need a balanced commercial approach and so far they’ve always done that by carrying out projects that save money and reduce carbon dioxide.
They said what they’ve got to be careful of is doing projects that reduce carbon emissions but don’t pay back for 50 years, which they said isn’t a sensible approach.
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” IT goes against the scientific community ” ….. 😂😂😂😂
Maybe he should explain how storm Melissa broke all the rules in its extraordinary growth and devastated Jamaica, a mountainous island. An island, which because of its mountains, usually breaks up hurricanes. But, not this hurricane. Not this time. The waters are so warm that this hurricane defied all out understanding of hurricanes. This is not the time to start talking about how we can further damage our climate. We need to start moving away from fossil fuels with a matter of urgency.
So he is an idiot then.
farage just won rusty razor award
https://bylinetimes.com/2025/10/29/reform-uk-just-won-britains-least-prestigious-award-for-promoting-pseudoscience/
>> “Cllr Barry said that China and India are contributing massively to carbon emissions and said ‘our contribution is negligible’.”
It wouldn’t be negligible if we got blamed, as we should, for the emissions associated with all the stuff China and India make for us.
The mass of scientific evidence showing that human carbon dioxide emissions are increasing the earth’s temperature, thus causing catastrophic climate change, is absolutely conclusive and overwhelming. Every country in the world, including Wales, must take steps to reduce the emissions to zero unless we wish to render our only home – planet earth – uninhabitable in the not too distant future.
They had a discredited anti vaxer at the conference and Nige has already called vaccines made up (interview with late James Wale). Nige thinks CO2 is OK (on stage said it out loud). Nige is getting in bed with serious religous far right from the US and they basically are bonkers with regards science. Jenkins is a big naysayer with no evidence. So science is not something reform will accept, but try to pin one down on the science, they will run for the hills, I expect this councillor to run away rather that sit with a credited scientist. This… Read more »
Are any of this Reform mob in Wales not total morons?
I can answer that for you, no.
You can see why they have a certain type that supports them.
Scrap Reform to save British industry At a time when global markets are increasingly focused on sustainable energy solutions, the UK faces a critical juncture in terms of domestic energy policy. Reform UK, with its ideological aversion to renewable energy, insists that doubling down on fossil fuels is the magic solution. Their rejection of wind energy in favor of accelerating fossil fuel extraction not only undermines the economic potential of green energy, but also risks undermining the future of British industry. In particular, this myopic approach could deal a heavy blow to key sectors like steel manufacturing, which is dependent… Read more »