Reform leader denies climate change is man-made as council launches new environmental strategy

Staffordshire County Council’s Reform UK administration approved a new environmental strategy after withdrawing the authority’s earlier climate-emergency declaration. The strategy replaces the previous climate-change framework with eight priorities covering the council’s own environmental impact, resilience to severe weather, nature recovery, waste, energy, transport and support for economic growth. It presents the change as a practical, locally focused approach intended to protect the county’s environment, reduce costs and assist residents and businesses.

The Star reported that the Reform leader denied that climate change is caused by human activity, while the newly adopted document does not use the term “climate change”. It does, however, refer to impactful weather and longer-term changes in weather patterns. The policy change has drawn attention because it moves away from long-term net-zero targets; the council says this allows it to concentrate on deliverable local measures. The scientific position assessed by the IPCC is that human influence has unequivocally warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.