Cornwall Council's Climate and Energy Action Plan

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Recent global events have highlighted our exposure to energy insecurity. Rising fuel costs and supply shocks have pushed up living costs and put pressure on homes and businesses across Cornwall. They have also shown that energy security, climate goals and a strong economy are closely linked.

The case for more local control is clear. By producing cleaner, affordable energy in Cornwall through wind, solar and geothermal power, we can cut emissions, lower energy costs and keep more money in our communities. Action on climate change can also grow our economy and improve lives.

Our Climate and Energy Action Plan

The Cornwall Council Climate and Energy Action Plan 2026–2030 shows what we have done so far and what we will do over the next four years. It sets out benefits to residents, communities, and businesses, and responds to the climate emergency.

Download the full Climate and Energy Action Plan (published 2026)

The benefits of taking action

Cornwall Council is taking action to lower energy bills, promote affordable transport, and build healthier communities. Benefits include:

Clean energy: growing our renewable energy sector while helping Cornwall shift to clean energy that does not fuel climate change or damage our environment.
Secure energy: helping ensure Cornwall has reliable energy supplies, in the face of volatile global fossil-fuel markets.
Affordable energy: helping make energy more affordable for households, businesses, and the Council. Addressing fuel poverty, the cost of living crisis and high business overheads.
Health and wellbeing: creating warmer homes, reducing exposure to climate health risks (heat stress, cold homes, extreme weather, climate anxiety and other climate change related hazards).
Community and social resilience: ensuring a just transition, helping to build resilience for all Cornwall’s communities, protecting older people, vulnerable groups and our children’s future.
Improving ecosystem health, food and water security: helping nature recover across Cornwall, while protecting our food and water systems.
Economic stability: creating jobs and skills while mitigating the exposure of Cornwall’s economy and infrastructure to climate driven shocks and losses.
National security: helping protect the UK from increasing climate, energy, food and water systems insecurity.

What targets have we set?

Our Cabinet (November 2025) reaffirmed its commitment to cut the council’s organisational emissions by:

70% reduction by 2030 (baseline year of 2019).
Continuing to reduce emissions after 2030 with the aim of achieving at least a 90% reduction by 2040 (net zero).
Reducing our wider supply chain emissions (called scope 3 emissions) by 25% by 2030, and by 90% by 2045 (baseline year of 2023).

This is different to the original 2019 carbon neutral motion. We are now prioritising the continuation of emission reduction after 2030 over the use of offsetting. This follows the principles of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

We will need to offset the remaining emissions that we are unable to remove by 2040. To do this we are investing in an accredited tree planting programme on our council farms estate. This is aligned to the Woodland Carbon Code, bringing with it wider nature-based benefits.

What is in the Climate and Energy Action Plan?

The action plan covers the following mission areas:

Mission 1 – Affordable, secure and clean energy: transitioning Cornwall to more affordable, secure, and clean local energy.
Mission 2 – Efficient homes and non-domestic buildings: making Cornwall’s homes and non-domestic buildings warmer, healthier and more energy efficient.
Mission 3 – Sustainable, healthy travel: making sustainable travel choices easier, reducing congestion and pollution.
Mission 4 – Supporting Cornwall’s sectors to decarbonise: supporting industry, agriculture and waste sectors to decarbonise.

There is also a set of cross-cutting actions that underpin the delivery of all four missions:

Cross-cutting actions – Capacity and skills, funding and investment, infrastructure, participation and engagement, and working with government.

The action plan consists of 50 actions including 8 priority actions. It reflects the council’s multi-dimensional role across each of the 4 mission areas.

The actions are set at two levels:

Council level – actions required by the council to continue leading by example in decarbonising its own operations; and
Cornwall-wide level – actions required by working with partners and government to realise the benefits of the climate and energy transition for Cornwall’s residents and businesses.

Who was involved in developing the Climate and Energy Action Plan?

The Climate and Energy Action Plan was co-developed with lead officers across different services of the Council.

Consultation during the development of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Area Energy Plan (LAEP) helped to shape it. More than 4,000 stakeholders took part in this, including residents, community groups, businesses, infrastructure providers and sector specialists. Their input has ensured the plan reflects local priorities, practical opportunities and community concerns. A Residents’ Energy Panel provided further insight into public views. Their recommendations strengthened our focus on fairness, affordability and long-term energy security.

A Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Area Energy survey in 2024 revealed 82% of all respondents were ‘very concerned’ or ‘fairly concerned’ about climate change.

A wider public consultation on the Council’s 2025–26 priorities showed climate change, environmental protection, and biodiversity as key concerns for residents. This closely aligns with the priorities set out in the Climate and Energy Action Plan.

Our achievements

What we have achieved through our projects over the period 2019-2025 are detailed within the Climate and Energy Action Plan.

Cornwall Council remains a systems leader. We are nationally and internationally recognised for our work in responding to climate change.

This is reflected by:

Being awarded an ‘A’ rating by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) for the past three years. This puts us among 16% of regions and cities worldwide to achieve an ‘A’ rating in 2025.
Being the highest-ranking rural (single tier) council in 2025. The Climate Emergency UK’s Council Climate Action Scorecards are an independent assessment of local authorities in the UK.

Our response to the climate emergency is an ongoing conversation with organisations and individuals in Cornwall and beyond. We are continuing to engage and learn as new challenges and new opportunities arise.

Take a look at our progress

We release regular progress reports that chart our progress over time. You can access the latest report on the Hive.

Explore our latest progress report on the Hive

We prepare annual reports to show progress made in the last year against our goals and priorities for the year ahead. Our latest summary is included in the Climate and Energy Action Plan (published May 2026).

The previous 2023-24 annual report and 5 year update - combined in one document - can be viewed below.

View Climate Change Action Plan annual report 2023-24 and 5 year update