Making decisions and reducing emissions
Our Cabinet (November 2025) reaffirmed its commitment to cut the council’s organisational emissions and adopted the following targets:
70% reduction of direct operational emissions by 2030 (baseline year of 2018/19).
Continuing to reduce operational emissions after 2030 with the aim of achieving at least a 90% reduction by 2040 (net zero).
75% reduction in emissions from heating and powering council buildings by 2030 (baseline year of 2018/19).
Additional 15MW of renewable energy on council estate by 2030 (baseline year of 2018/19).
All Cornwall Housing Ltd housing stock to reach EPC 'C' by 2033.
Reducing our wider scope 3 emissions by 25% by 2030, and by 90% by 2045 (baseline year of 2023).
Our Climate and Energy Action Plan 2026-2030 sets out how we plan to do this.
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.
We continue to place people and planet at the heart of our work. We use our Cornwall Development and Decision Wheel when making key decisions.
Cornwall Council's carbon footprint
Every year we produce a Cornwall Council greenhouse gas inventory (also known as a carbon footprint). This is a record of where our emissions come from. All figures relate to the six main greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride. Emission figures are shown as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).
The Council produced a baseline greenhouse gas inventory for the financial year 2018/19. The baseline allows us to check progress made on reducing emissions across the Council’s own estate and operations.
The greenhouse gas inventory for Cornwall Council includes emissions relating to:
Electricity and gas consumption within all of Cornwall Council's owned offices
Electricity consumption by all of Cornwall Council streetlights and road signs
Water, waste, and recycling in Cornwall Council owned offices and buildings
Business travel by Cornwall Council employees*
*Business travel includes:
In pool cars
In fleet vehicles
In personal vehicles
By rail, air and sea
The Council's baseline in 2018/19 was 15,650 tonnes of CO2e.
Our latest 2025/26 inventory shows that the Council’s emissions are trending downwards. In this year we emitted 8,554 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO²e), representing a 45% drop in emissions since 2018.
You can access the latest inventory on the Hive – our online engagement platform.
Explore our latest Cornwall Council Greenhouse Gas Inventory
The Council’s Climate and Energy Action Plan 2026-2030 provides the direction needed to further reduce emissions.
Take a look at our progress
We release quarterly progress reports. 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 our Climate Change Action Plan annual report 2023-24 and 5 year update
Our achievements
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 continue to engage and learn as new challenges and new opportunities arise.
Working with others
Many of the changes needed to cut emissions are outside Cornwall Council's direct control. The Council is working with partners, communities and businesses to reduce emissions for better human and environmental health. This includes supporting the work of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Climate Commission and engaging with the voluntary sector.
How we work with different organisations and sectors is detailed in our Climate and Energy Action Plan.
We are making the most of Cornwall's collective potential and creating solutions together. Changing our energy system requires major investment. We also need collective leadership and shared ambition.
Following our Climate Emergency Declaration in 2019, we heard from over 3,000 residents on the projects they wanted the Council to first focus on. We delivered on these and many more since.
You can read about some of our projects below.
Our action so far
Our key projects and achievements since declaring a climate emergency in 2019 (through to 2025) include:
Increasing the amount of renewable energy generated in Cornwall
The Council has increased the amount of renewable energy generated in Cornwall from 8 megawatts (2019) to 15 megawatts (2025). This is enough to power around 18,000 homes. The Council's installed renewable energy generation has achieved an income of £17.6 million between 2018-2025.
Planting new woodland across Cornwall
The Forest for Cornwall programme, launched in 2019, celebrated its fifth year of delivery with around 1.6 million trees planted across more than 1,000 projects in Cornwall.
Responding to the climate emergency through planning
Cornwall Council's Climate Emergency Development Plan Document (DPD) was adopted in 2023. Developed in response to Cornwall’s 2019 Climate Emergency Declaration, it is recognised as an exemplar in planning policy. It covers energy, transport, nature-based solutions, and sustainable design. It supports the delivery of homes that meet higher energy efficiency standards than national requirements. It also identifies areas for nature recovery and renewable energy generation and promotes new approaches to climate adaptation.
Improving the energy efficiency of homes across Cornwall
•Publication of a Housing Decarbonisation Strategy for Cornwall. This aims to make homes warmer, healthier and more energy efficient. It also helps cut emissions and reduce heating costs for people in all types of housing.
• The award-winning Winter Wellbeing Partnership brings together more than 30 organisations. It works to reduce fuel poverty, improve health and support people into work. So far, it has helped more than 40,000 households stay warm, well, and safe.
• More than 21,000 households in Cornwall received energy-saving improvements through the Energy Company Obligation scheme. The Green Homes Grant also helped install 2,000 heat pump installations and fund 352 home energy upgrades.
• The Council partnered with OVO Energy Solutions to improve almost 500 homes through the Home Upgrade Grant. More home improvements are now being delivered with funding from the Warm Homes Local Grant and the Social Housing Fund.
• The Green Home Improvement Loan Scheme was launched to support people most in need. The scheme offers loans to help residents and private landlords improve their homes. Funding can be used for renewable energy, insulation and other energy-saving upgrades.
• The Homewise tool gives free, independent advice on how to make homes warmer, healthier and more energy efficient. It can be used to see which energy-saving and renewable energy technologies best suit your home and lifestyle.
• Cornwall Housing has delivered energy improvements for tenants. Solar panels have been installed on 820 homes and heat pumps in 600 existing homes and 152 new homes. Insulation and other energy-saving upgrades have been made across the housing estate.
Improving streetlighting
Cornwall Council has replaced 55,000 streetlights with LED lights. This has cut light pollution, reduced electricity use by 40%, and saved £1.9 million in 2024/25 alone.
Making travel greener
• Active travel investment has delivered 13km of new off-road routes across Cornwall.
• Since it launched, the Beryl eBike hire scheme has supported more than 400,000 journeys and over one million kilometres of travel.
• In 2023, 226 new public EV charge points were installed. This put Cornwall in the top 20% of local authority areas for public EV charge points.
• Cornwall was the first local authority to licence charging cable gullies. This helps people without a driveway charge their electric vehicle at home while parked on the street.
• The council now has 50 electric vehicles in its fleet. This includes emergency response vehicles used by Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service.
• The chain ferry at Torpoint is part of a green energy trial. Backed by £300,000 of government funding, the project will use electricity instead of fossil fuels.
• Cornwall’s Newquay Airport achieved Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) level 2. This was in recognition of its work on carbon management and reduced energy consumption. ACA is the only internationally endorsed carbon management certification for airports and Newquay Airport is one of only 17 airports accredited in England in early 2026.
Matchfunding grassroots projects
Our Cornwall Climate and Nature Fund helped fund 73 local projects. More than 5,800 people backed these projects through crowdfunding campaigns. Highlights include a youth-led climate festival in Penryn, a fossil-free farming event on the Lizard, a returnable cup scheme in Bude, and solar panels for a hedgehog hospital near Newquay.
Unlocking external funding
Since 2019, Cornwall Council has secured around £275 million in external funding towards climate and clean energy.
Investing in future farming and alternative fuel
Cornwall Council, its farm tenants, and Corserv partnered with local firm Bennamann on a pilot project at three dairy farms. The project tested methane capture from covered slurry lagoons to turn it into a clean, renewable fuel. This fuel can power lorries and tractors, heat homes and businesses, provide hot water, and charge electric vehicles.
Investing in geothermal heat and energy
We are supporting the first deep geothermal power projects in the UK. The two sites are at United Downs and The Eden Project. Producing power from the granite rocks beneath Cornwall is an important move away from fossil fuels.
Exploring low-carbon lithium extraction
Our deep geothermal sites offer a vital new source of low-carbon lithium. Once processed the lithium-ion can be used in batteries for electric vehicles.