“CORNWALL Council has a very important part to play in terms of leadership and delivery, but we can’t do this on our own.”

Those were the words of Paul Masters, strategic director for neighbourhoods, when he addressed a special meeting about how Cornwall Council intends to tackle climate change.

After the council declared a climate emergency in January officers have been working to draw up an action plan which is due to go before the council’s Cabinet next month.

On Friday an extraordinary meeting of the council’s neighbourhoods overview and scrutiny committee heard how the council is approaching this huge task.

Mr Masters told the committee: “The effects of climate change are increasingly upon us. People are worried about the planet and they are feeling helpless about what they can do about it, they are feeling it is too little, too late.”

In declaring a climate emergency Cornwall Council set a goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030 – in a presentation the committee heard about the different goals which have been set by different authorities around the world and how they could be achieved.

Mr Masters said: “There is a real worry about how long it will take us to reach proper action on this. All these targets are possible, but the reality is how will we get there? We need the Government to help us out.”

The committee heard about some of the things the council was already doing under the Green Cornwall and Environmental Growth Strategy programmes which are putting in place initiatives which will help with reducing carbon emissions and helping the environment.

These have included the use of renewable energy, installation of solar panels on council buildings, installing electric vehicle charging points and improving public transport.

However Mr Masters acknowledged that the council had not been the best at promoting the work it has done, stating that during the youth climate change protest someone wrote on the County Hall sign that the council needed to install solar panels on the building – something the council has already done.

The meeting heard that between 2005 and 2016 CO2 emissions in Cornwall reduced by 32% with 2.8 million tonnes of CO2 saved.

But councillors heard that transport was the single biggest contributor to carbon emissions in Cornwall, accounting for 36%.

And the meeting heard that there will have to be a real change in behaviour and the way people go about their lives to have a real impact on climate change.

Rachael Bice, head of environmental growth and partnerships, said: “All of us will get to the point where there are things that we are really quite attached to that we find difficult to change.

“All of us will have to think about what we are doing and how we are doing it.”

She explained that all electricity will have to be generated through renewable sources and that vehicles will have to be “near zero carbon”. And next to no buildings will use gas, coal or oil to be heated.

Agriculture will have a role to play in reducing the use of fertilisers, reduce emissions and capture methane and carbon.

But the committee heard that changes which will have to be made will not only help combat climate change but could also provide health benefits, create greater resilience and also provide new economic opportunities.