Reform councillors have failed in their bid to scrap the green tariff that Wiltshire Council is paying on top of its electricity bill.
Success, a crunch meeting heard, would have knocked the council's ambition to achieve net zero by 2030 off target.
A motion tabled by Cllr Mike Sankey (Reform, Calne North) to save £30,000 by scrapping the tariff - which was incorporated into the Conservatives' 'alternative budget' as part of a Tory-Reform voting pact - failed to pass.
Cllr Sankey acknowledged that while the saving was small, it was "equivalent to employing an additional member of staff."
At the council's budget-setting meeting on Tuesday, Andrew Nicolson of Wiltshire Climate Alliance reminded councillors that it was nearly six years to the day since they had passed a landmark resolution acknowledging the climate crisis.
"Its increased urgency is with us now, and we see it in our rapidly changing weather systems," he told councillors.
"Every council has to make a unilateral commitment to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible."
He asked whether the council was on track to hit its emissions target, and queried what impact removing the tariff would have on that plan."
The council's Liberal Democrat deputy leader Mel Jacobs responded: "The reason for a green tariff is because we are committed to the climate strategy and to saving the planet, and putting right all those things that are so terribly wrong."
She assured him: "We are broadly on track to meet our 2030 carbon neutral target and there has been significant progress since 2014/15, with emissions falling by about 90 per cent."
But she warned: "If we removed the green tariff with immediate effect, our emissions would rise by about 3,800 tonnes for the 26/27 period.
"And that could grow further if our electricity use increases, which would make it harder to reach that 2023 target.
"The council can't achieve net zero without buying electricity from renewable sources."
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When the Liberal Democrats took power last year, the council was paying an extra £240,000 a year on top of its £6.35 million energy bill to support renewable energy production.
But falling energy prices - especially in the renewable energy market - means the potential savings from scrapping the tariff have fallen considerably.
However, the fluctuating market means the council only has certainty in the financial year 2027/8, for which a contract has been signed.
In future years it could go back up, or come down further.
