Becoming climate positive: Eden's journey

We’re transforming our energy infrastructure and demonstrating what’s really possible. 

How

Geothermal

Our geothermal plant has been producing heat since June 2023. This heats our Biomes, helping to completely phase out fossil fuel use. This also heats our new nursery facility, Growing Point, where we now grow plants for our gardens, restaurants and shop.

Progress so far

• We’ve completed the construction of our geothermal energy plant, and in June 2023 we began heating the Biomes and plant nursery using this new system.
• We reduced core energy consumption by 9% vs 2021/22 and by 24% compared to the 2019/20 baseline year.
• We’ve reduced energy use through lower and more efficient use of air handling units, whilst still maintaining optimal ambient conditions to meet the Mediterranean and Rainforest Biome temperature requirements. 
• We’ve also reduced energy consumption across the site, for example, scheduling changes to run times for ventilation and air handling equipment in catering achieved an electricity saving of 40,000 kWh compared to the previous year.

We aim to have cut visitor travel emissions by 55%.

How

Electric vehicles

We’re taking fossil fuel vehicles out and bringing electric buggies and an electric car fleet in. We’re installing infrastructure for charging electric vehicles, increasing our public transport routes and exploring how we can use Park and Ride from further afield. 

Progress so far

We’ve installed our electric vehicle charging hub, which is powered by renewable energy and supports our visitors in making more zero emission journeys to and from our destination.   
 

We are protecting, restoring and creating natural carbon ‘sinks’.

How

We are working to help nature take carbon dioxide gas out of the atmosphere and lock the carbon up in plants and in the ground as a solid. 

We will continue to make soil, grow plants, regenerate landscapes, make and use biochar, work on national and international regenerative projects and run education programmes – all activities that also increase biodiversity. 

Regenerative horticulture

• Reclaiming and restoring land and regenerating landscapes
• Exceeding national targets on biodiversity gain 
• Regenerating soils and monitoring soil carbon capture
• Growing thousands of carbon-capturing plants 
• Making and using biochar
• Only using peat-free composts
• Demonstrating and teaching regenerative agriculture and sustainable soil management

Wild sites

We’re working on projects both nationally and internationally, including being the home of the National Wildflower Centre and continuing the regeneration of a dry tropical forest in Costa Rica, to increase biodiversity and fight climate change. 

Halting deforestation 

All of our activities are aligned to respect, protect and repair the natural world, halting biodiversity loss and deforestation. We avoid palm oil where possible. Where it is used, we only purchase or sell products that contain RSPO-certified palm oil. We support relevant certification schemes that support our mission, such as Fairtrade, FairWild and Rainforest Alliance.  

Insetting

We’re developing our own CO2 removal projects to generate our own carbon credits, such as woodland and wildflower meadow creation and biochar production. This is known as insetting.

Progress so far

• In Cornwall, through the National Wildflower Centre and Living Landscapes Team, we have created 5.17 hectares of new wildflower habitats in our outer estate as well as continuing to manage 1.73 hectares of established wildflower fields. 
• We have also created wildflower verges along our main access roads using a mixture of annuals and perennials to ensure wildflowers will be a key element of our site for years to come. The pollinator impact of the meadows will be monitored by our research collaboration with the University of Exeter.

Eden Project Cornwall is over two decades old. We're retrofitting old site systems to reduce emissions from our operations, implementing circular systems and reducing our energy use. All future Edens will be designed, built and run in a sustainable way. 

How

Green infrastructure

We're installing clean technologies, replacing gas boilers and cooking systems, installing more solar PV and electric chargers, exploring the best circular systems for water and waste and increasing energy efficiency (the best kWh is the one that isn’t used). 

Regenerative design, sustainable construction 

We are aiming for zero carbon, regenerative design and material use that align with the UN sustainable development goals. All future Eden Projects will be leading examples of ultra-sustainable construction.

Local materials and circular systems

We’re sourcing materials locally to avoid transport emissions and maximising reusable construction materials.    

Progress so far

• Our new on-site nursery Growing Point uses recycled and reclaimed materials, geothermal heat and harvested rainwater and provides plants and food for our gardens, restaurants and shop.
• We completed a whole life cycle carbon assessment of Growing Point which reported an 89% reduction in embodied carbon (avoiding almost 1,000 tonnes of CO2e) compared to a traditional glass house design. This highlighted the benefit of prioritising natural, regenerative materials and will help to inform our construction approach on all future Eden Projects.

We’ll continue to develop responsible supply chains in order to reach net zero by reducing emissions from external goods, service and travel. By 2030, we aim to reduce these emissions by 55%. 

How

Responsible supply chains

75% of our carbon emissions currently come from goods and materials coming into the project along with staff and visitor travel. 

To help reduce this we have developed a sustainable procurement policy that seeks to: 

• Achieve procurement decisions that are economically viable, socially acceptable and environmentally sound. 
• Benefit the local economy and reduce our carbon footprint by sourcing from local producers and suppliers of goods and services. 
• Support global trade and communities in emerging economies through fair trade schemes. 
• Condemn compulsory or forced labour and support the Government's implementation of the Protocol on Forced Labour and other relevant treaties.

Supplier charter

We’re developing a charter that will encourage suppliers to adopt their own decarbonisation pathways that align with ours. 

Local skills and industry

We are sourcing goods and services in ways that minimise product and transport emissions. We are supporting and developing sustainable, local supply chains.

Progress so far

• We’ve calculated the extended carbon footprint of our supply chain, having undertaken an emissions hotspot study with Planet Mark. 
• We are sharing this data with our suppliers and partners to help minimise the environmental impact of our supply chain and operations together. 
• We held a supplier day at Eden Project Cornwall in 2023 that engaged over 20 of our largest local suppliers on Eden’s mission and explored opportunities for collaboration around ways of working, sustainability and responsible procurement.
• Our food strategy at Eden Project Cornwall advocates a food system approach in sourcing our menus. Focussing on the way food is grown, processed, transported and served, as well as its sustainability and contribution to reducing our scope 3 carbon footprint from purchased goods.
   

We already recycle 70% of our waste, and over two thirds of our irrigation and loo flushing water is recycled rainwater. However, processing waste and water still currently contribute to our emissions, so we will balance these unavoidable emissions by creating more natural carbon stores.

• Supplier charter – working with our supply chain and key suppliers, we’ll develop the supplier charter to reduce external/scope 3 emissions.
• Energy auditing – we’ll complete our ESOS (Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme) audit this year.

• Natural carbon removals – we’ll further develop opportunities to create carbon sinks on our own sites.
• Energy and transport – we’ll expand our EV charging provision to meet growing demand. We’ll support this with the generation of our own electricity.       

As well as everything listed above, we are working on:

• Engagement – we provide our audiences with hope and agency in response to the planetary emergency, demonstrating that the solutions do exist and communicating this through content that is underpinned by sound science. Our Science Advisory Panel informs content development and helps determine our position and policies.  
• Financing – we continually reinvest into infrastructure on site and work with external funding partners to unlock the benefits of renewable technologies.
• Governance – the Enabling Leadership team (ELT) works with all the teams at Eden Project Cornwall to support and enable our mission related projects. The central Eden Project support teams operate each Eden Project site, project and programme. 

This project is led by Matthew Shribman with the support of Cambridge Zero / University of Cambridge.

Developers: Chris Butterworth, Richard Coates, Rowland Williams, Keith Alexander, Erika Antiche Garzón, Max Palmer

Designers: Bella Soares, Chris Butterworth

Special thanks: Gary Fearnall

The widget is endorsed by the Grantham Institute, the 2 Degrees Institute, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and Reading University’s Department of Meteorology.

The original report, with more details about the widget, its ideation, and suggestions for further communication, is available here.