UK emissions fell to lowest level since 1872 last year, analysis finds

The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions fell to the lowest level since 1872 last year, climate and energy website Carbon Brief said.

Its analysis, based on preliminarily Government energy data, found that the country’s planet-warming emissions fell by 3.6% to 371 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mtco2e) in 2024.

This is the lowest since 1872, when Queen Victoria was on the throne, and on a par with 1926, when there was a general strike.

The decrease last year was largely driven by coal use falling to the lowest level since 1666, the year of the Great Fire of London, Carbon Brief said.

Port Talbot

This came after the closure of the UK’s last coal-fired power station, Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, and one of its last blast furnaces at Port Talbot steelworks in Wales, both in September.

Other contributors included a drop in demand for oil and gas, a nearly 40% rise in electric vehicles (EVs) on the road, above-average temperatures and record levels of clean energy.

The analysis also found that gas demand for heating increased as prices fell from their peaks after the global energy crisis, sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

But gas demand fell overall because of higher electricity imports and increased output from low-carbon sources.

Greenhouse gas emissions

The research, which is part of Carbon Brief’s decade-long series of annual estimates, shows that the UK’s territorial greenhouse gas emissions – those that occur within the country’s borders – have now fallen in 26 of the 35 years since 1990.

The climate and energy website said UK emissions are now 54% below 1990 levels, while gross domestic product (GDP) has grown by 84%.

Under its UN climate plans, the country aims to reduce economy-wide emissions by at least 81% by 2035, relative to 1990 levels, and reach net zero by 2050, meaning all emissions would be equal to those removed from the atmosphere.

But Carbon Brief said the UK would need to cut its emissions by a larger amount each year than it did in 2024 to reach its 2035 and 2050 climate goals.