The UK’s electricity was the cleanest ever in 2024, new Carbon Brief analysis shows, with carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per unit falling by more than two-thirds in a decade.
This is because the UK has phased out coal and is now getting less than half as much electricity from burning fossil fuels as a decade ago, while renewable generation has more than doubled.
In total, fossil fuels made up just 29% of the UK’s electricity in 2024 – the lowest level on record – while renewables reached a record-high 45% and nuclear was another 13%.
As a result, each unit of electricity generated in 2024 was associated with an average of just 124g of CO2, compared with a “carbon intensity” of 419gCO2 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in 2014.
Other key insights from the data include:
- In 2024, the country generated just 91 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity from fossil fuels – mainly gas, as coal was phased out in September – down from 203TWh in 2014 (-55%).
- Renewable sources more than doubled from 65TWh in 2014 to 143TWh in 2024 (+122%).
- Gas-fired power stations remained the UK’s single-largest source of electricity in 2024, generating some 88TWh (28%), just ahead of wind at 84TWh (26%).
- The remaining sources of electricity in 2024 were nuclear (41TWh, 13%), biomass (40TWh, 13%), imports (33TWh, 11%) and solar (14TWh, 4%).
- Some 61% of electricity – or 68% excluding imports – came from clean sources, both records, but a long way off the government’s target of at least 95% clean power by 2030.
- The emissions associated with UK electricity supplies has fallen from 150m tonnes of CO2 (MtCO2) in 2014 to below 40MtCO2 in 2024, down 74%.
- The reduction in the carbon intensity of electricity means that an electric vehicle (EV) now has lifecycle CO2 savings of 70% over a petrol car, up from only 50% in 2014.
- Similarly, a household using a heat pump instead of a gas boiler is now cutting its heat-related CO2 emissions by 84% per year, rather than only 45% in 2014.
While figures from the National Energy System Operator (NESO) show wind having generated more electricity than gas in 2024, these numbers exclude significant amounts of gas generation, particularly from “combined heat and power” units at industrial sites.
When accounting for all plants burning gas for power in the UK, the fuel remained as the single-largest source of electricity in 2024, slightly ahead of wind.
However, increasing wind power capacity as new projects are completed in the coming months – and below-average wind speeds in 2024 – mean wind is likely to generate more electricity than gas in 2025.
Carbon Brief has published an annual analysis of the UK’s electricity generation in 2023, 2021, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016.
Cleanest ever
Having risen to global dominance on the back of coal-fired industrial might, the UK has made significant progress in cleaning up its power supplies over the past 75 years.
It opened the world’s first civil nuclear power plant in the 1950s, burned oil to generate electricity in the 1960s, made a “dash for gas” in the 1990s, and built renewables in the 2000s and 2010s.
In addition, electricity demand has been falling for nearly two decades, as appliances have become more efficient and the economy has shifted away from heavy industry.
These shifts culminated in the closure of the UK’s last coal-fired power station, at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, in September of 2024. This ended a 142-year era of burning the fuel for electricity, and made the UK the first country in the G7 to completely phase out coal power.
The end of coal power, combined with the rise of renewables, means the UK’s electricity was the cleanest ever in 2024, as shown in the figure below.
Specifically, the carbon intensity of electricity fell to just 124gCO2/kWh in 2024. This is 70% lower than it was in 2014 when each unit of electricity was associated with 419gCO2/kWh.
Combined with a reduction in demand, the emissions associated with UK electricity supplies have dropped from 150MtCO2 in 2014 to less than 40MtCO2 in 2024, a reduction of 74%. This includes emissions embedded in imported electricity and lifecycle emissions associated with imported biomass.
Under the government’s target for clean power by 2030, the carbon intensity of electricity generation should fall by another two-thirds by the end of the decade, according to NESO.
In its advice on how to reach the target, NESO set out pathways to clean power by 2030 that would see carbon intensity falling to 50gCO2/kWh or lower, depending on how it is measured.
This will be a very significant challenge. Nevertheless, the power sector has already been transformed over the past decade. It was the UK’s largest source of CO2 until 2014 and is now only the fifth largest, after transport, buildings, industry and agriculture.
Fossil fuel decline
The swift reductions in the carbon intensity of UK electricity are due to a rapid shift away from burning fossil fuels to generate power.
In addition to phasing out coal power, the UK has also seen significant reductions in the amount of gas generation over the past decade, while oil-fired electricity generation is negligible.
In total, fossil-fired power generation has fallen by more than half in the past decade. It has dropped from 203TWh in 2014 to 91TWh in 2024 (-55%), reaching the lowest level since 1955.
This reduction is illustrated in the figure below, which shows how the decline of fossil fuel generation has mainly been offset by the rise of renewables.
Combined electricity generation from wind, biomass, solar and hydro has more than doubled from 65TWh in 2014 to 143TWh in 2024 (+122%). Combined with falls for coal and gas, this means that renewables now generate significantly (57%) more electricity in the UK than fossil fuels.
Notably, the carbon intensity of electricity did not fall during the 2000s, because nuclear generation was starting to decline as the nation’s oldest reactors closed down.
With renewables only just starting to ramp up in this period, the country turned back to fossil fuels to replace lost nuclear generation.
In contrast, carbon intensity has fallen rapidly since 2014, despite further nuclear retirements. Nuclear decline and the coal phase out have been more than offset by renewables, imports and falling demand, meaning gas use has also dropped, as shown in the figure below.
While looking ahead to 2030 and beyond, electricity demand is expected to rise as transport and heat are increasingly electrified via EVs and heat pumps (see below).
According to NESO’s recent advice on reaching clean power by 2030, demand for electricity is expected to grow 11% by 2030 and to nearly double by 2050.
Wind powered
Wind has seen the largest increase of any power source in the UK over the past decade. Moreover, it is expected to form the backbone of the nation’s electricity system by 2030.
The rise of wind power and the decline of fossil fuels means that the UK now gets nearly as much electricity from wind as from gas, as shown in the figure below.
Notably, the rise in wind power output has levelled off over the past two years. The main reason for this is that very little new wind capacity has been added.
In 2022, the UK added 3.5 gigawatts (GW) of new wind capacity, including 3.2GW of offshore wind. This dropped to 1.6GW in 2023, of which 1.1GW came from the Seagreen offshore windfarm off the coast of Scotland, which is currently the nation’s largest and the third-largest in the UK.
However, no new offshore windfarms were added in 2024 and only 0.7GW of new onshore capacity was built, mainly the 0.4GW Viking project in the Shetland Islands.
A further reason for the levelling off in wind power output is that windspeeds have been below average for the past two years.
October and November 2024 have seen particularly poor wind conditions in the UK, respectively 7% and 22% below average – and it has been calm elsewhere in Europe too.
Nevertheless, a new record for wind generation was hit on 19 December 2024, with output reaching 22.5GW for the first time, according to NESO.
Several large new offshore windfarms are under construction and due to open in 2025 or 2026.
These include Dogger Bank A, a 1.2GW development in the North Sea due to open next year, as are the 0.9GW Moray West and 0.5GW Neart na Goithe windfarms off Scotland.
In 2026, these projects are due to be followed by the 1.2GW Dogger Bank B and 1.4GW Sofia windfarms, also in the mid-North Sea region.
Given these new developments and the likelihood that windspeeds will return towards average levels, it is likely that the UK will get more electricity from wind than from gas in 2025.
Biomass is the second largest source of renewable electricity in the UK, generating 40TWh in 2024. This is up 17% from 34TWh in 2023, but roughly the same as in 2022.
The UK’s largest biomass generator, the Drax former coal plant in Yorkshire, had seen subdued output in recent years due to planned outages for refurbishment.
Note that Drax only accounts for around a third of biomass generation, with other biomass power sources, including landfill gas, sewage gas and anaerobic digestion of organic waste.
The UK’s net imports of electricity also reached a record high in 2024, with cheaper prices on the continent and new interconnector capacity meaning more power flowed into the country.
Lower lifecycle
The UK’s cleaner electricity generation in 2024 makes electrified heat and transport far more beneficial in terms of reducing CO2 emissions.
For example, an average petrol car in the UK generates 2.7 tonnes of CO2 (tCO2) per year. In 2014, an EV would have generated 830kg of CO2 – but in 2024 this was just 245kg.
Based on the CO2 intensity of electricity in 2014, it would have taken 16,000 miles (2.2 years) for an EV to pay off the “carbon debt” associated with producing its battery, relative to a petrol car.
Based on the cleaner electricity generated in 2024, this payback is just 12,000 miles (1.6 years).
Put another way, an EV driven on 2014 electricity across its full lifetime would have had lifecycle CO2 emissions that were 50% lower than a petrol car. Now, the lifecycle saving is 70%.
There have been similar benefits for CO2 emissions from household energy use, particularly those that use an electric heat pump.
In 2014, a household with average demand would have been responsible for 1.1tCO2 from its electricity use. Today, that figure has fallen to 0.3tCO2.
For a household with a heat pump, emissions from home heating will have fallen from 1.4tCO2 in 2014 to just 0.4tCO2 in 2024. This means that instead of cutting their annual CO2 emissions from heat by 45%, as they were in 2014, they are now reducing their CO2 output by 84%.
Methodology
The figures in the article are from Carbon Brief analysis of data from DESNZ Energy Trends chapter 5 and chapter 6, as well as from NESO. The figures from NESO are for electricity supplied to the grid in Great Britain only and are adjusted here to include Northern Ireland.
In Carbon Brief’s analysis, the NESO numbers are also adjusted to account for electricity used by power plants on site and for generation by plants not connected to the high-voltage national grid.
NESO already includes estimates for onshore windfarms, but does not cover industrial gas combined heat and power plants and those burning landfill gas, waste or sewage gas.
Carbon intensity figures from 2012 onwards are taken directly from NESO. Pre-2012 estimates are based on the NESO methodology, taking account of fuel use efficiency for earlier years.
The carbon intensity methodology accounts for lifecycle emissions from biomass. It includes emissions for imported electricity, based on the daily electricity mix in the country of origin.
DESNZ historical electricity data, including years before 2012, is adjusted to align with other figures and combined with data on imports from a separate DESNZ dataset. Note that the data prior to 1951 only includes “major” power producers.
The post Analysis: UK’s electricity was cleanest ever in 2024 appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Al-Karim Govindji is the global head of public affairs for energy systems at DNV, an independent assurance and risk management provider, operating in more than 100 countries.
Optimism that this year may be less eventful than those that have preceded it have already been dealt a big blow – and we’re just weeks into 2026. Events in Venezuela, protests in Iran and a potential diplomatic crisis over Greenland all spell a continuation of the unpredictability that has now become the norm.
As is so often the case, it is impossible to separate energy and the industry that provides it from the geopolitical incidents shaping the future. Increasingly we hear the phrase ‘the past is a foreign country’, but for those working in oil and gas, offshore wind, and everything in between, this sentiment rings truer every day. More than 10 years on from the signing of the Paris Agreement, the sector and the world around it is unrecognisable.
The decade has, to date, been defined by a gritty reality – geopolitical friction, trade barriers and shifting domestic priorities – and amidst policy reversals in major economies, it is tempting to conclude that the transition is stalling.
Truth, however, is so often found in the numbers – and DNV’s Energy Transition Outlook 2025 should act as a tonic for those feeling downhearted about the state of play.
While the transition is becoming more fragmented and slower than required, it is being propelled by a new, powerful logic found at the intersection between national energy security and unbeatable renewable economics.
A diverging global trajectory
The transition is no longer a single, uniform movement; rather, we are seeing a widening “execution gap” between mature technologies and those still finding their feet. Driven by China’s massive industrial scaling, solar PV, onshore wind and battery storage have reached a price point where they are virtually unstoppable.
These variable renewables are projected to account for 32% of global power by 2030, surging to over half of the world’s electricity by 2040. This shift signals the end of coal and gas dominance, with the fossil fuel share of the power sector expected to collapse from 59% today to just 4% by 2060.
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Conversely, technologies that require heavy subsidies or consistent long-term policy, the likes of hydrogen derivatives (ammonia and methanol), floating wind and carbon capture, are struggling to gain traction.
Our forecast for hydrogen’s share in the 2050 energy mix has been downgraded from 4.8% to 3.5% over the last three years, as large-scale commercialisation for these “hard-to-abate” solutions is pushed back into the 2040s.
Regional friction and the security paradigm
Policy volatility remains a significant risk to transition timelines across the globe, most notably in North America. Recently we have seen the US pivot its policy to favour fossil fuel promotion, something that is only likely to increase under the current administration.
Invariably this creates measurable drag, with our research suggesting the region will emit 500-1,000 Mt more CO₂ annually through 2050 than previously projected.
China, conversely, continues to shatter energy transition records, installing over half of the world’s solar and 60% of its wind capacity.
In Europe and Asia, energy policy is increasingly viewed through the lens of sovereignty; renewables are no longer just ‘green’, they are ‘domestic’, ‘indigenous’, ‘homegrown’. They offer a way to reduce reliance on volatile international fuel markets and protect industrial competitiveness.
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As we move toward a future where electricity’s share of energy demand doubles to 43% by 2060, we are hitting a physical wall, namely the power grid.
In Europe, this ‘gridlock’ is already a much-discussed issue and without faster infrastructure expansion, wind and solar deployment will be constrained by 8% and 16% respectively by 2035.
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This pressure is compounded by the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI). While AI will represent only 3% of global electricity use by 2040, its concentration in North American data centres means it will consume a staggering 12% of the region’s power demand.
This localized hunger for power threatens to slow the retirement of fossil fuel plants as utilities struggle to meet surging base-load requirements.
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Despite recent headlines regarding supply chain inflation and project cancellations, the long-term outlook for offshore energy remains robust.
We anticipate a strong resurgence post-2030 as costs stabilise and supply chains mature, positioning offshore wind as a central pillar of energy-secure systems.
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A new trend is also emerging in behind-the-meter offshore power, where hybrid floating platforms that combine wind and solar will power subsea operations and maritime hubs, effectively bypassing grid bottlenecks while decarbonising oil and gas infrastructure.
2.2C – a reality check
Global CO₂ emissions are finally expected to have peaked in 2025, but the descent will be gradual.
On our current path, the 1.5C carbon budget will be exhausted by 2029, leading the world toward 2.2C of warming by the end of the century.
Still, the transition is not failing – but it is changing shape, moving away from a policy-led “green dream” toward a market-led “industrial reality”.
For the ocean and energy sectors, the strategy for the next decade is clear. Scale the technologies that are winning today, aggressively unblock the infrastructure bottlenecks of tomorrow, and plan for a future that will, once again, look wholly different.
The post For proof of the energy transition’s resilience, look at what it’s up against appeared first on Climate Home News.
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The head of the United Nations body governing the global shipping industry has said that greenhouse gases from the global shipping industry will fall, whether or not the sector’s “Net Zero Framework” to cut emissions is adopted in October.
Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization, told a new year’s press conference in London on Friday that, even if governments don’t sign up to the framework later this year as planned, the clean-up of the industry responsible for 3% of global emissions will continue.
“I reiterate my call to industry that the decarbonisation has started. There’s lots of research and development that is ongoing. There’s new plans on alternative fuels like methanol and ammonia that continue to evolve,” he told journalists.
He said he has not heard any government dispute a set of decarbonisation goals agreed in 2023. These include targets to reduce emissions 20-30% on 2008 levels by 2030 and then to reach net zero emissions “by or around, i.e. close to 2050”.
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Dominguez said the 2030 emissions reduction target could be reached, although a goal for shipping to use at least 5% clean fuels by 2030 would be difficult to meet because their cost will remain high until at least the 2030s. The goals agreed in 2023 also included cutting emissions by 70-80% by 2040.
In October 2025, a decision on a proposed framework of practical measures to achieve the goals, which aims to incentivise shipowners to go green by taxing polluting ships and subsidising cleaner ones, was postponed by a year after a narrow vote by governments.
Ahead of that vote, the US threatened governments and their officials with sanctions, tariffs and visa restrictions – and President Donald Trump called the framework a “Green New Scam Tax on Shipping”.
Dominguez said at Friday’s press conference that he had not received any official complaints about the US’s behaviour at last October’s meeting but – without naming names – he called on nations to be “more respectful” at the IMO. He added that he did not think the US would leave the IMO, saying Washington had engaged constructively on the organisation’s budget and plans.
EU urged to clarify ETS position
The European Union – along with Brazil and Pacific island nations – pushed hard for the framework to be adopted in October. Some developing countries were concerned that the EU would retain its charges for polluting ships under its emissions trading scheme (ETS), even if the Net Zero Framework was passed, leading to ships travelling to and from the EU being charged twice.
This was an uncertainty that the US and Saudi Arabia exploited at the meeting to try and win over wavering developing countries. Most African, Asian and Caribbean nations voted for a delay.
On Friday, Dominguez called on the EU “to clarify their position on the review of the ETS, in order that as we move forward, we actually don’t have two systems that are going to be basically looking for the same the same goal, the same objective.”
He said he would continue to speak to EU member states, “to maintain the conversations in here, rather than move forward into fragmentation, because that will have a very detrimental effect in shipping”. “That would really create difficulties for operators, that would increase the cost, and everybody’s going to suffer from it,” he added.
The IMO’s marine environment protection committee, in which governments discuss climate strategy, will meet in April although the Net Zero Framework is not scheduled to be officially discussed until October.
The post IMO head: Shipping decarbonisation “has started” despite green deal delay appeared first on Climate Home News.
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