Call for Darlington to scrap net zero pledge rejected
It was reported in October that there had been calls to scrap a climate emergency pledge, previously made by Darlington Borough Council. This pledge was to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2040. The plan was criticised as ‘virtue-signalling’ and it was claimed that it was wasting public money.
The call to scrap the net zero plan came after County Durham Council, controlled since May last year by Reform UK, had voted to drop its climate pledge and ‘prioritise social care’ instead.
In response Councillor Chris McEwan, stated that “energy security, dealing with fuel poverty, and energy resilience in an uncertain world where we face international threats.”
Councillor McEwan also added, with regards to Durham County Council’s decision earlier to scrap their net zero pledge: “My view is that Durham made a mistake in scrapping some of the initiatives that could have worked towards lowering their operating costs and allowing more resources to be placed into a priority area – and we treat children’s services as a priority area.”
Darlington net zero and nature pledges remain priorities
On 8 January, it was reported that leaders at Darlington Town Hall had emphatically repeated the ambition of Darlington Borough Council to introduce energy-saving measures across the borough and become carbon neutral by 2040.
Councillor McEwan commented: “Climate change and the Nature Emergency remain important priorities, not pursued for their own sake, but because they also deliver efficiency and financial savings.
“Cumulatively, nearly £5 million has been saved over the past five years, demonstrating a clear economic benefit, and this has in part allowed us to deal with some of the historic cuts to our funding from previous governments.
“To those that say: ‘why are we focusing on this?’ Why shouldn’t it be a priority to reduce costs of us doing business so we can invest in the many other council priorities?”
Climate records continue to be broken
The news that Darlington Borough Council are going to stick to their net zero pledge came just a few days after the Met Office reported that historical climate records had been broken again in 2025, with “provisional Met Office figures showing it has been both the warmest and sunniest year on record for the UK”.
It was further noted that, “recording a mean temperature of 10.09°C, 2025 now joins 2022 and 2023 in the top three warmest years since 1884. This is an increasingly clear demonstration of the impacts of climate change on UK temperatures”.
On 10 January it was also reported that according to Oxfam, it had taken only 10 days of the new year, for the world’s richest 1% to have already used up their fair share of carbon emissions. Indeed, it was also found that the richest 0.1% of the world’s population had used up their share of carbon by 3 January.
Oxfam also added that “the worst effects of the emissions would be faced by those who had done the least to cause the climate crisis, including people in low-income countries on the frontlines of climate breakdown, Indigenous groups, women and girls.
“Lower- and middle-income countries are most at risk from the detrimental effects of these emissions, with global economic damage potentially adding up to £44tn by 2050”.
The importance of cutting carbon emissions was reinforced on 9 January when it was noted that scientists in an analysis in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, had reported that another new heat record had been set as the colossal amounts of heat were absorbed by oceans in 2025, which in turn had fuelled more extreme weather.
It was added that the oceans absorb more than 90% of the heat trapped by humanity’s carbon pollution. This was said to “make ocean heat one of the starkest indicators of the relentless march of the climate crisis, which will only end when emissions fall to zero. Almost every year since the start of the millennium has set a new ocean heat record”.
Consequently, typhoons and hurricanes hitting coastal communities have become more intense, as the extra heat causes greater flooding from heavier downpours of rain. Additionally, life in the sea is being destroyed by longer marine heatwaves. Sea level rise is also being driven by the rising heat.
Hitting net zero saves money
Not only is there no sign of Climate Change, with all its dangerous effects slowing down, but there is also clear evidence that moving towards net zero will save money, the kind of money that can be used to help fund services such as social care as well as helping families and individuals.
It was reported in February 2025 that the latest report from the Climate Change Committee (CCC), the independent body advising the UK Government on its climate change targets had found that households will be able to expect to save over a thousand pounds a year on their bills every year through reducing reliance on fossil fuels and that climate-friendly infrastructure will cost the country a lot less than had been expected.
The report was said to confirm that “a low-carbon future is not only best for the planet, but for our economy as well”.
“The UK could have lower bills, cleaner air and better energy security in a net zero future”.
Darlington Borough Council have got it right
The evidence seems clear; Darlington Borough Council has made the right decision to continue prioritising the plan to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2040.
Firstly, there is the great danger posed by Climate Change itself, which is demonstrated to us on a virtually daily basis, by verified reports and examples of extreme and dangerous weather. It is clear that reducing carbon emissions is not a matter of ‘virtue signalling’ but a matter concerned with the future of humanity and other life on earth.
And the evidence seems equally clear that much of the drive to net zero carbon emissions is aimed at not wasting money. It is about not using fuel that isn’t needed and also about using cheaper renewable sources of energy as opposed to fossil fuels.
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