Councils in the three counties of Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire scored below the Welsh national average in the first ever analysis of local councils’ Climate Action Plans.

Climate Action Plans set out what a local authority plans to do to reduce climate emissions and reverse biodiversity loss in line with its climate emergency declaration.

According to data released this week by Climate Emergency UK, Pembrokeshire County Council's score of 36% was still below the national average of 31%.

This was closely followed by Ceredigion County Council on 34% and Carmarthenshire County Council on 32%.

On average, scores in Wales were similar to those in England and Scotland, but higher than Northern Ireland (average score 25%).

In the single tier category (which includes Welsh councils) the highest scoring council was Manchester City Council with 87%.

Climate Emergency UK used 28 questions to assess all UK councils' Climate Action Plans, published online before 20 September 2021.

It only assessed Action Plans, not the actions councils are actually taking to reduce emissions and improve biodiversity

Isaac Beevor, from Climate Emergency UK, said: “Councils may be doing good things which aren’t reflected in their Action Plan.

"That is why next year we will be assessing all councils on what they are actually doing.

“Local authorities can help to deliver 30% of the cuts in carbon emissions needed to get to net zero, according to the 6th UK Carbon Budget published a year ago, so it is vital that councils do as much as they can.

“This year’s scorecards are just the start of the process. It has been an important exercise to understand what makes a good council Climate Action Plan and we hope that it will help councils learn from each other and up their game.

"A good plan will help a local authority deliver effective actions, as well as enabling local residents to know what their council has committed to and so hold the council to account.

“While we understand that councils need much more support and funding from the national Government, and have been stretched by responding to the pandemic, the fact that some councils have developed well thought out, costed and ambitious plans, shows that it is possible.”