Find out about the latest from COP30 and explore our case studies on climate solutions
The 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30) took place from 10 November to 21 November 2025. This is the United Nation’s annual climate summit, where nearly 200 countries gather to negotiate and make decisions about tackling climate change.
Search #COP30 and #COP30Torbay on our social media channels to find out more.
On Tuesday 11 November it was the official launch event for the ECOE Advice Energy Support drop in service at People’s Parkfield House in Paignton. Watch this video to hear Hannah and Dana from ECOE Advice talk about the advice and support they can offer you.
The drop in sessions, which are commissioned by Torbay Council and funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, are open to all and provide advice on keeping your home warm and saving money on energy costs, with information on heating and insulating your home.
The drop in sessions take place every Tuesday at People’s Parkfield House from 10am to 3pm. ECOE Advice also provide home visits to assess your needs and advise on what you could do to make your homes more energy efficient, and you can call them for free advice on 0800 772 3617.
Watch the video:
Pupils at Watcombe Primary School have joined forces with Torbay Council, SWISCo, the Environment Agency and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to plant a Miyawaki Forest with 700 trees, which will trial this nature-based solution’s ability to reduce flooding and support wider work to address climate change. It forms part of the Devon County Council Devon Resilience Innovation Project (DRIP) funded by Defra.
A Miyawaki Forest is a very dense planting (3-5 trees per sqm) that recreates the conditions of a natural clearing in a forest and can result in much faster growth rate (5-10x faster or 1m per year on average) as the trees compete with each other for nutrients and light.
Around 20 different tree species are being randomly planted to mimic the canopy layers in a natural woodland, which will help increase biodiversity as well as capturing carbon. SWISCo are leading on the planting but pupils have also joined in.
Miyawaki Forests aim to:
This project is funded by Defra as part of the £200 million Flood and Coastal Innovation Programmes which is managed by the Environment Agency. The programmes will drive innovation in flood and coastal resilience and adaptation to a changing climate.
The tree planting at Watcombe Primary School is the first of two Miyawaki Forests for Torbay, with the second site to be confirmed.
Torbay will soon benefit from improved LED street lighting which will significantly improve the energy efficiency of our streetlights and lower our carbon emissions, and importantly, also save money in the long term, saving thousands of pounds over its lifetime.
As a result of the changes to streetlighting, it will be centrally controlled and upgrade the rest of our streetlights to LED Holophane Lanterns and to procure Telensa’s Control Management Sytem (CMS). This means more than 3,000 of the Bay’s street lights will be upgraded and centrally controlled. The system already operates successfully in a number of high profile areas including Birmingham, Hackney, Cambridge and Essex.
Deputy Leader of Torbay Council Chris Lewis said: “The proposed new streetlighting scheme will be fantastic for the Bay with the ability to vary the brightness of the lights in all areas enabling us to be more responsive, will be better for the environment, and also save both energy and costs in the long term.
“The new lighting will also help address anti-social behaviour and reduce the impact on our biodiversity across the Bay from artificial streetlighting.
“This is just one of a number of great schemes we have under our Climate Change Action Plan that the Bay will benefit from.
“It also forms part of our wider Pride in Place agenda in our Community and Corporate Plan which covers everything around our visitor economy, culture, climate, planning, natural environment and harbours, as well as our town centre regeneration programme which aims to make our towns become the places that they should be for our communities to enjoy.”
Find out more: https://www.torbay.gov.uk/news/pr9388/
As part of our work on climate, Torbay Council has worked with Mayfield School in Torquay, via contractors Murch and Baker, to replace their Air Handling Unit that serves the school's hydrotherapy pool.
The previous system has been replaced with a new packaged heat recovery version to heat the pool and the water. It is fed from two air source heat pumps, located on the roof, and the works have significantly improved the climatic conditions and reliability of the system. The new system has also significantly reduced the environmental impact of the space, and is expected to save emissions of around 46 tonnes of carbon per year and also save a significant amount of money in the long term.
Watch the video to hear Adam Tapp from the school and Ben Campbell our Apprentice Building Services Engineer to find out more about the project. This is one of a number of local projects to help reduce the Council’s carbon emissions as part of our Climate Change Action Plan.
In celebration of Brixham Rugby Club’s 150th anniversary, Brixham Town Council, in partnership with the Club, has planted 150 trees at Wishings Field as part of a year-long series of celebrations. Under bright, sunny skies, staff, councillors, volunteers from the Rugby Club, and students from Brixham Church of England Primary School gathered to plant a mix of native tree species. These trees were carefully selected to enhance local biodiversity, providing food and shelter for wildlife and creating a thriving habitat for years to come. The volunteers from the Rugby Club took on the heavy lifting, planting 10 established trees, while young hands made light work of planting 140 saplings. With enthusiasm and energy, the students had the opportunity to learn from the council’s Lengthsmen Team about the different species planted, the wildlife they would support, and the steps taken to ensure the trees thrive in their early stages. Ross Green, Deputy Town Clerk for Brixham Town Council, shared: “The energy brought by the young people was truly infectious, and their enthusiasm helped make light work of planting. Wishings Field has become a popular space since the council introduced an accessible path and has taken steps to actively manage the area. It was wonderful to see so many young people on the Village Green, and I hope they’ll return in the future to see the trees they planted grow.”
The RGS-Risman Environmental Changemakers Accelerator provides individuals with a passionate interest in environmental issues with guidance, training and up to £4,000 of funding for overseas travel to become effective environmental changemakers through the means of a transformative journey. Up to six young environmental changemakers will be selected to take part in the programme, which includes one-to-one mentorship from Society members and six one-hour online training sessions to strengthen practical skills—from project planning and partnership building, to risk management and storytelling. During the mentorship and training programme, participants will be supported in the development of projects plans, including key elements such as logistics, risk assessment and ethical considerations. At the end of the process, participants will submit their detailed travel plans for review by a panel. Approved projects will receive financial support (up to £4,000) towards the cost of their overseas travel. On return, they will be asked to share their learnings and experiences with the Society and invited to participate in the RGS Explore Weekend in early November. This programme has been made possible thanks to the generous support of The Risman Foundation, a philanthropic foundation dedicated to reimagining formative experiences for young people, helping shape the leaders they will become.
Apply here: RGS-Risman Environmental Changemakers Accelerator
As the world looks toward COP30, we’re celebrating local action that’s already shaping a more sustainable future.
In Torbay, a partnership between Torbay Communities and Our Rainwater, part-funded by the Department for Education’s SuDS in Schools programme, is helping schools take practical, science-backed steps toward climate resilience, while inspiring the next generation of environmental stewards.
Three Torbay schools, Sherwell Valley, St. Cuthbert Mayne, and Watcombe Primary, will soon be turning their playgrounds into living classrooms. By installing Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) such as planters and water butts, each school is reducing surface water flooding, enhancing biodiversity, and creating green spaces that help their community adapt to heavier rainfall and rising temperatures.
As these projects take shape, pupils will discover how water moves, how thoughtful design can protect both people and places and how technology and design can work hand in hand. Real-time monitoring will collect two years of data to show how the systems perform in real weather. But the plan is to make these more than just drainage systems, we want to ensure they become hopeful stories about how we can all live differently with water, nature, and one another. Then every rainfall becomes an opportunity to learn, a reminder that our choices, even at a local scale, ripple outward.
Teachers and community partners are supporting this journey, helping students link what they see in their school grounds to the wider challenges and opportunities of a changing climate. When young people see their school grounds transformed into greener, more resilient places, it sparks conversations at home and across the community. It’s the kind of quiet cultural shift that turns awareness into everyday action, the heart of lasting change.
As global leaders gather for COP30 to discuss climate commitments, these Torbay schools are showing what climate education looks like in practice: local action, collaboration, and care for the environment woven into everyday life. Their work is a reminder that many powerful climate lessons happen not in policy documents, but in playgrounds, gardens, and shared green spaces.
Heat pumps were delivered by crane to Paignton Library earlier this year, replacing the outdated old boiler system. The new heat pumps are not only much more environmentally friendly but will also deliver significant savings both on energy and financially over their lifetime.
The work is being carried out by local contractors and sub-contractors, and the whole project is funded by a national grant from the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Fund. The decarbonisation of Paignton Library is one of a number of projects that form part of the Torbay Council Climate Change Action Plan, which plans to deliver around 600 tonnes of carbon emissions savings each year. This is around a tenth of our current carbon footprint.
Watch our video to find out more about the project:
Our new draft Climate Change Action Plan 2024-26 went to Cabinet on 18 February 2025.
The new plan builds on previous plans. These have already delivered many measures to reduce carbon emissions. Successes so far have included:
Watch the video about our Climate Change Action Plan to find out more: