UK emissions down in 2024

Some good news in as much as the constant rise in greenhouse gas emissions is being curbed in the UK. Still a long way to go to get to real reversal numbers, but this new analysis by Carbon Brief tells that our emissions decreased 3.6% in 2024.

Above average temperatures, a rise of almost 40% in electric car numbers* and the largest proportion of renewable energy going in to the grid were all factors in the decrease.

It means the UK’s emissions are now 54% below 1990 levels. Roughly half of the drop in emissions was due to a 54% reduction in demand for coal.

Coal use dropped to the lowest level since the year of the Great Fire of London, in 1666. This was in large part thanks to the closure of the UK’s last coal-fired power station and one of the last remaining blast furnaces at the Port Talbot steelworks.

Meanwhile oil demand fell 1.4% and gas demand fell 13% thanks to lower gas-fired electricity generation as a result of higher electricity imports and increased output from low-carbon sources.

*1.4m EVs, 0.8m plug-in hybrids and 76,000 electric vans cut oil-related emissions by at least 5.9MtCO2e. The benefit to the UK’s EV motorists was a saving of about £800 on average, relative to the cost of driving petrol or diesel vehicles.