ABOUT THE DEVON CARBON PLAN

The Devon Carbon Plan has been produced with extensive collaboration with the people of Devon – from the general public and communities to organisations, businesses, local authorities and climate experts. 

It was developed in stages from 2019 to 2022: 

• The convening of a Net-Zero Task Force by the partnership. The Task Force consists of 15 volunteer specialists in topics relevant to carbon reduction to steer the creation of this Devon Carbon Plan. They are drawn from business, community, environmental and academic organisations. 
• A three-month Call for Evidence, in which anyone could submit their ideas for how Devon can achieve net-zero. 
• A Youth Parliament Climate Summit to gather input from young people in Devon. 
• Thematic Hearings bringing together topic experts from communities, businesses and academia to discuss barriers to reaching net-zero and what actions are necessary to overcome them. 
• A public consultation on the Interim Devon Carbon Plan for initial feedback. 
• A Devon Climate Assembly formed of a representative sample of Devon’s citizens considered how Devon should meet the big challenges of climate change. 
• A second public consultation on the partnership’s response to how the Assembly’s recommendations were proposed to be incorporated into the Devon Carbon Plan. 

You can read more about how the Plan was produced here. 

Communities in Devon have started imagining what their places will look like in a net-zero future through our Net Zero Visions project. We can expect more trees and green spaces, healthier rivers, estuaries and beaches, more space for people to walk and to ride bicycles safely and plenty of electric cars making our streets quieter and the air cleaner. Buildings will have solar panels and water butts and may have external insulation to make them easier to heat and keep them cool in summer.  

A resurgence of truly local services would enable people to have the choice of accessing the services they frequently need (e.g. food store, school, medical practice, post office) within a short walk of their home. This reduces the need to travel longer distances (saving money, time and reducing carbon emissions), keeps money in the local economy and offers local employment. It can help us become healthier, too, because those of us who are able to would find ourselves walking or cycling more often. This idea is sometimes referred to as a ’20-minute neighbourhood’ and there are plenty of places in Devon where these already exists. We all have a role to play in making a place like this though, because the local shop, post office or pub only thrive if we use them. But of course people would still able to travel to services further afield – it would be entirely up to you!

To lower emissions from transport, we need to reduce the need to travel, shift to sustainable transport options and use technology to reduce emissions from vehicles. This looks like: 

• Using the internet to work flexibly from work hubs or from home when appropriate, and use technology to access services remotely. 
• Having easy, quick access to key local services (see ‘What could our neighbourhoods look like?) that will mean we don’t need to travel too far if we don’t want to, so we can walk and cycle – maybe with an electric bike to combat those Devon hills! 
• Better access to shared options, like car clubs and electric bike rental schemes.  
• Improved access to public transport that’s attractive, efficient, reliable and affordable. 
• Easy use of electric cars aided by a dense network of charging points 
• More opportunities to transition quickly and easily between different types of transport to complete your journey.  

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You can continue to eat whatever you wish! However in a net-zero Devon there will be a greater choice of sustainably-produced, affordable and healthy food options generally involving less red meat and dairy, that give more information to you about how they have been produced. This will help you make the healthier and more environmentally-friendly choice, which will often support local growers, if you want to.

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Farmers will continue to produce high quality food and they will have been helped to make their practices more climate friendly to restore soil quality and the amount of carbon it contains.  

Practices that enhance and maintain soil carbon include:   

• Regenerative practices. These include techniques that rotate crops with livestock grazing; reduce tilling and ploughing; and planting cover crops after the main crop has been harvested.  
• Agroforestry. This incorporates varieties of trees, hedges and shrubs into cropland and grazing land.  
• Pasture-based livestock farming (permanent and leys). Animals raised solely on grass reduce soil tillage by removing the need to grow supplementary feed, and the manures and plant roots enable soil health to improve.  

In addition to the practices above, there is evidence that organic farming can enhance and maintain soil carbon and provide more nutritious food. 

Alongside producing food, farmers will be paid by government to provide other public goods through the Environmental Land Management scheme. These goods are:  

• Clean and plentiful water 
• Clean air 
• Thriving plants and wildlife 
• Beauty, heritage and engagement 
• Protection from and mitigation of hazards (e.g. reducing flood risk) 
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to climate change 

These will be achieved by, for example, planting buffer strips (areas of permanent vegetation) between fields and streams, planting cover crops in bare fields to reduce soil erosion, planting trees on riverbanks, planting areas of woodland and installing ponds and dams.   

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