Reports and Reviews

Cornwall Council remains committed to providing access to the data, reports, and strategies that are used as evidence to inform our work, engagement, and decision making along with links to our performance and risk reports to enable our residents and partners to monitor progress against our ambitions and inform their own activity.

Our performance reports are updated quarterly, and greenhouse gas inventory reports are produced annually for Cornwall as a whole and Cornwall Council as an organisation. The greenhouse gas inventories utilise the internationally recognised Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Inventories. The Cornwall inventory, which is produced by the University of Exeter, brings together national and local datasets to provide a holistic analysis of Cornwall's greenhouse gas emissions. The national data is collated annually, approximately two-years in arrears; therefore, the publication of the Cornwall inventory tracks slightly behind national statistics. The Cornwall Council inventory uses data from the previous financial year.

Our journey from the declaration of a climate emergency in 2019 through to today can be mapped across the reports and other documents that guide our actions in response to climate change.

Pathways to reducing our emissions

Following our climate emergency declaration, Cornwall Council commissioned the University of Exeter to produce the Cornwall Climate Emergency: Pathways to “Net Zero” report, which looked at the scale of change required for Cornwall to reach net zero emissions by 2030 and 2050. The report, produced in 2019, looked at the funding and policy changes required and indicated some areas where innovation was still required.

In 2025, the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Area Energy Plan (LAEP) was completed. It was prepared with more than 4,000 individuals and representatives from organisations from across the area. The plan provides a detailed evidence base for a future (decarbonised) energy system in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The LAEP details the essential elements required to reach a cleaner, more affordable, and resilient energy system while retaining the benefits of the energy transition in the region. It looks at how energy is used, supplied and managed, and identifies the required changes to our local energy systems for heating, electricity, gas, and transport to help the region become net zero.

The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Area Energy Plan - published 2025

Cornwall Action Plan

The Cornwall Climate Emergency: Pathways to “Net Zero” report informed the development of our first action plan - the Carbon Neutral Cornwall Action Plan, which was adopted in July 2019. It was nationally recognised and informed the first phase of activity and engagement undertaken by the Council, including the publication of a Carbon Neutral Cornwall Call to Action in January 2021.

View Climate Change Action Plan

View Carbon Neutral Cornwall Call to Action booklet

Update:

The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Area Energy Plan, published in 2025, now provides more data, information, and understanding about Cornwall’s progress towards achieving its aims of emission reduction. This is helping us to develop a new Climate and Energy Action Plan (which will be available in mid 2026).

The Climate and Energy Action Plan will be set around Cornwall Council Cabinet's decision to maintain its commitment that 30% of land, rivers and seas in Cornwall will be well managed for nature by 2030 and to reaffirm the pledge to reduce its own (operational) emissions by 70% by 2030, with a further ambition to reduce by 90% by 2040.

The evidence in the LAEP recommends 2045 as an ambitious but more realistic timescale for Cornwall reaching net zero.

Cornwall's Carbon Footprint

In 2019, when the council declared a climate emergency, we commissioned an updated Cornwall Greenhouse Gas Inventory to provide a 2008 baseline and for all years available at that time. Along with the Pathways to Net Zero report, our baseline inventory was used to prioritise activity and engagement with residents, key emitting sectors, and government. It is important to note that all of our inventories take into account the impact of the seasonal influx of tourists, which account for around 13% of our total emissions.

Each year we commission the University of Exeter to produce an updated inventory to chart Cornwall’s progress towards our net zero ambitions. We aim to publish the updated inventory in April each year and the latest technical report, which uses 2022 data, is available below:

View interactive version of Cornwall's Greenhouse Gas Inventory 2022

This is an interactive report that provides an overview of emissions since 2008 and a breakdown of emissions by source in the reporting year.

Cornwall Council's Carbon Footprint

Since our climate emergency declaration in January 2019, we have committed to publishing annual greenhouse gas inventories. These are produced in-house with data from the previous financial year using the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Inventories. Reports are published annually alongside Cornwall's Greenhouse Gas Inventory.

View interactive version of Cornwall Council's Greenhouse Gas Inventory 2024-25

Progress reporting

Following the adoption of the Carbon Neutral Cornwall Action Plan, it was agreed that quarterly progress reports would be given to the Neighbourhoods Overview and Scrutiny Committee. You can access the latest report through the link below and it's possible to select different reporting periods to chart progress over time.

View Carbon Neutral Cornwall Quarterly Highlight Report (visual interactive document) (if slow to load, click on your refresh button to speed it up).

Cornwall Council remains a systems leader that is nationally recognised for its work in responding to the climate emergency. The following reports chart the progress made in the last year against our emission reduction goals and the priorities for the year ahead.

View Carbon Neutral Cornwall 5 year update

View Cornwall Council Emissions Inventory Report 2023-24

Cornwall Climate Risk Assessment

The Cornwall Climate Risk Assessment (CCRA) was published in November 2022 and is the UK’s first bespoke risk assessment and contains a summary report, technical report and supporting documents. The Council are using the results of the CCRA to develop an adaptation strategy to help build resilience within our communities, our businesses and our natural habitats. This will be created in collaboration with our stakeholders, partners and communities and will be shared when finalised.

View Cornwall Climate Risk Assessment

Residents' Survey

Cornwall Council commissioned a survey to look at Cornwall residents' perceptions of climate change and current behaviours around travel, home energy use, products people buy, and food. It investigated:

• Residents’ willingness to alter some of these behaviours in favour of low-carbon alternatives,
• To what extent the cost-of-living crisis has already prompted behaviour change,
• Residents' views on the Council’s role in tackling climate change.

View Cornwall Council Behaviour Change and Engagement Programme – Survey of Residents

Update:

Residents’ views were also gathered to help develop the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Area Energy Plan to ensure it reflected and addressed the needs, concerns, and perceived opportunities of residents. A Residents’ Energy Panel met in February and March 2024 to debate potential solutions for decarbonising the region’s energy systems and securing residents’ future energy needs. Selection of the 42 panel members was undertaken by the Sortition Foundation, which specialises in recruiting diverse groups of people to take part in similar panels. For more details, read the Residents Energy Panel report and watch the video.