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Cornwall Council (Unitary)

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Jan. 22, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2030

“The Carbon Neutral Cornwall programme is a commitment to our future, a promise to work towards becoming carbon neutral by 2030, ensuring that Cornwall plays its part in restricting global warming to 1.50C. ”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022

Climate Plan Scorecard

This council’s climate plans as of 20th September 2021 were assessed and scored by trained Climate Emergency UK volunteers, as part of the Council Climate Plan Scorecards project.

Show the full Scorecard Read more about the scoring process

SectionCornwall Council (Unitary)Average single tier council
Total score69%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
15/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
17/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
5/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
7/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
3/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
3/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
1/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
3/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

2286.2 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

4.0 tCO2

per person

0.6 ktCO2

per km2

37%

Transport

32%

Domestic

13%

Industry

9%

Commercial

7%

Agriculture

3%

Public Sector

Data from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy “subset dataset”, representing carbon dioxide emissions within the scope of influence of local authorities.

These councils are the most similar to Cornwall Council (Unitary) in terms of emissions profile, deprivation, rural/urban population density, and geographical nearness. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
North Devon Council77%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Devon County Council76%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Somerset Council75%NoNo
Mid Devon District Council73%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Herefordshire Council72%Yes2030March 8, 2019
Shropshire Council - Unitary71%No2030May 16, 2019
Forest of Dean District Council70%Yes2030Dec. 6, 2018
Denbighshire County Council70%No2030July 2, 2019
Dorset Council69%No2040May 16, 2019
Conwy County Borough Council68%No2030May 9, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Cornwall Council (Unitary) in terms of their emissions profile, based on the latest data from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Devon County Council84%Yes2030Feb. 21, 2019
Lincolnshire County Council82%Yes2050No
Staffordshire County Council81%No2050July 25, 2019
Dorset Council81%No2040May 16, 2019
South Holland District Council80%NoNo targetNo
Suffolk County Council80%Yes2030March 21, 2019
Norfolk County Council80%No2030No
Newcastle-Under-Lyme District Council79%No2030April 3, 2019
Somerset Council79%NoNo
Boston Borough Council78%NoNo targetJan. 20, 2020
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Plymouth City Council90%Yes2030March 18, 2019
Torridge District Council90%Yes2030July 1, 2019
West Devon Borough Council89%Yes2030May 21, 2019
South Hams District Council86%Yes2030July 25, 2019
North Devon Council84%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Teignbridge District Council84%Yes2025April 18, 2019
Torbay Council82%Yes2030June 19, 2019
Exeter City Council81%Yes2030July 23, 2019
Mid Devon District Council81%Yes2030June 26, 2019
Pembrokeshire County Council80%Yes2030May 9, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Cornwall Council (Unitary) in terms of the proportion of their population living in high deprivation, medium deprivation, and low deprivation neighbourhoods. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council96%Yes2050Feb. 4, 2020
Boston Borough Council94%NoNo targetJan. 20, 2020
Isle of Wight Council94%No2030July 24, 2019
Carmarthenshire County Council92%Yes2030Feb. 20, 2019
Pembrokeshire County Council89%Yes2030May 9, 2019
Torridge District Council86%Yes2030July 1, 2019
Isle of Anglesey County Council86%Yes2030Sept. 8, 2020
Herefordshire Council86%Yes2030March 8, 2019
Fenland District Council84%NoNo targetNo
Bolsover District Council83%YesNo targetNo

These councils are the most similar to Cornwall Council (Unitary) in terms of the proportion of their population living in urban, rural, and highly rural neighbourhoods. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
South Holland District Council97%NoNo targetNo
East Devon District Council97%Yes2040July 24, 2019
East Ayrshire Council96%No2030No
Shropshire Council - Unitary95%No2030May 16, 2019
East Lindsey District Council95%Yes2040No
North Devon Council94%Yes2030July 24, 2019
South Norfolk District Council94%NoNo targetNo
Westmorland and Furness Council94%NoNo
Winchester City Council93%Yes2024June 5, 2019
Wychavon District Council92%Yes2050No

Features

This council’s climate plan has been tagged with the following features:

Powers & Responsibilities

Cornwall Council (Unitary) is a Unitary Authority, with powers over:

Council buildings and staff

Climate actions might include:

  • making council offices more energy efficient
  • incentivising ‘Active Travel’ or public transport use among employees
  • providing carbon literacy training for employees
    Environmental health

    Climate actions might include:

    • reducing industrial emissions through air quality enforcement
    • bringing up insulation and energy efficiency standards through enforcement of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and Decent Homes Standard 2000, for cold and damp conditions in private rental and social housing

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Passenger transport

    Climate actions might include:

    • encouraging bus and private hire operators to use low-emission vehicles, through licensing requirements or Clean Air Zones
    • incentivising bus use by improving routes, timetables, and ticket prices through ‘Enhanced Partnerships’ with operators
    • proposing to central government the development of light rail / tram networks that integrate, rather than compete, with other modes of transport in the area

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Planning and building control

    Climate actions might include:

    • imposing reasonable requirements that new developments comply with energy efficiency standards and get a proportion of their energy from local, renewable sources (Planning and Energy Act, 2008)
    • incorporating additional energy performance standards into their Local Plan, for new works that require planning permission
    • using Area Action Plans to guide development proposals towards lower carbon emissions or more cycling and walking routes, for example
    • enforcing legislation that requires private rental properties to be of Energy Efficiency Rating E or above (Energy Efficiency Regulations, 2015)
    • funding energy efficiency improvements on existing homes, through initiatives such as Green Homes Grants

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Schools and libraries

    Climate actions might include:

    • reducing the carbon footprint of civic buildings through better insulation and renewable energy use
    • incentivising ‘Active Travel’ or public transport use among employees
    • providing carbon literacy training for employees
    • encouraging eco-clubs at schools
    • using school land to plant trees and hedgerows, or to grow food

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Housing

    Climate actions might include:

    • setting energy standards above building regulations (Planning and Energy Act, 2008)
    • enabling housing associations to improve the energy efficiency of their housing stock through loans
    • where councils operate their own social housing, prioritising energy efficiency – for example, by requiring Passivhaus standard for newly built schemes

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Spending, procuring, and investing

    Climate actions might include:

    • embedding carbon impact assessment as part of the council’s budgeting and financial accountability process
    • utilising Public Works Loan Board loans or the Business Rates Retention Scheme to invest in emissions-reducing capital projects that otherwise wouldn’t get funded
    • specifying low carbon equipment and practices when procuring for relevant services from suppliers
    • prioritising positive environmental impacts during procurement, through the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012
    Transport planning

    Climate actions might include:

    • incentivising ‘Active Travel’ like walking and cycling by creating or widening footways and cycleways
    • incentivising Electric Vehicle use by assigning street space to EV charging
    • disincentivising the use of fossil fuel cars through congestion charging,low-traffic neighbourhoods, or the reduction of parking space

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Waste collection and disposal

    Climate actions might include:

    • establishing ‘Joint Waste Solutions’ with neighbouring councils, to get more value out of waste, recycling, and street cleaning contracts
    • running marketing campaigns to encourage residential recycling, reuse, and waste minimisation

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Read more about English local authority powers in the UK100 Power Shift report.

    More about this council

    cornwall.gov.uk
    Cornwall Council (Unitary)’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Cornwall Council (Unitary)’s ‘carbon budget’ – their share towards meeting the UK’s Paris agreement targets.
    Friends of the Earth ‘Near You’ tool
    Discover climate groups in this area, data about Cornwall Council (Unitary)’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Cornwall Council (Unitary). Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/cornwall-council-unitary/ [Accessed 27 May 2023].

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