Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions have FALLEN to their lowest level since 1872, promising analysis reveals

Britain has been relying on burning planet-polluting fossil fuels for energy since the Industrial Revolution.

Now, more than 200 years later, it seems we’re finally breaking the habit. 

According to a new report from Carbon Brief, the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 3.6 per cent in 2024 to reach their lowest levels since 1872. 

That year, Queen Victoria was on the throne, industrialization was in full swing, and Wanderers beat Royal Engineers in the first-ever FA Cup final in south London. 

The impressive drop in emissions was largely driven by coal use falling to the lowest level since 1666, Carbon Brief reports. 

Experts point to the closure of the UK’s last coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire and one of its last blast furnaces at the Port Talbot steelworks in Wales.

‘The UK’s emissions are now definitively below the level reached only temporarily during the height of Covid in 2020, having fallen steadily in each of the past three years,’ Carbon Brief said in a statement. 

‘They are now at levels not seen consistently since Victorian times.’ 

Coal, oil and gas are all fossil fuels because they were formed from the fossilized, buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. 

When fossil fuels are burned, they release large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2), which traps heat in our atmosphere, causing global warming. 

The new analysis, based on preliminarily government energy data, shows that emissions fell to 371 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e) in 2024.

This is down 3.6 per cent compared with emissions in 2023 (385 MtCO2e) and marks the lowest level of emissions since 1872 (361 MtCO2e). 

According to Carbon Brief, about half of the drop in last year’s emissions was due to a 54 per cent reduction in UK coal demand, which fell to just two million tonnes – the lowest level since 1666.

Although Britain only substantially started to burn coal on a massive scale during the Industrial Revolution, coal was burnt ‘almost everywhere in every man’s house’ by the early 17th century – well before the damage it did to the planet was apparent. 

In 2024, the UK marked a huge milestone when it finally phased out coal, by closing down the last operating coal power station, at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, on September 30. 

It ended a nearly 150-year reliance on coal power by the UK, dating back to the Holborn Viaduct power station in London in 1882, the world’s first-ever coal-fired power station. 

Also last autumn, Port Talbot steelworks in Wales – one of the UK’s biggest single emitter of carbon dioxide – was shut down. 

In the UK, steel production fell from 5.6 million tonnes in 2023 to 4 million tonnes in 2024 – a reduction of 29 per cent – but mostly offset by a 1.3 million tonnes increase in imports. 

But other factors include a nearly 40 per cent rise in the number of electric vehicles (EVs) on UK roads. 

EVs are powered by rechargeable batteries just like a smartphone, while more traditional petrol and diesel use internal combustion engines, which produce harmful greenhouse gas and particle emissions. 

The number of EVs on UK roads rose from 1 million in 2023 to 1.4 million in 2024 – a 39 per cent increase – while the number of plug-in hybrids was up 28 per cent to 800,000. 

Along with 76,000 electric vans, these EVs cut oil-related emissions by at least 5.9 MtCO2e in 2024, Carbon Brief said. 

UK demand for road fuel – petrol and diesel – has also decreased long-term, despite increased traffic on the roads.  

Other contributors included a drop in demand for oil and gas – the two other harmful greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels. 

According to the National Energy System Operator (NESO), gas still does make up a substantial part of the UK’s energy ‘mix’. 

According to NESO, as of Wednesday, 34.5 per cent of the mix is gas and 28.4 per cent is wind (an eco-friendly renewable energy source). 

Meanwhile, nuclear makes up 9.1 per cent of the mix, imports from other countries 9.8 per cent, biomass 6 per cent and hydro 0.8 per cent.

Biomass is organic material burnt to release stored energy, while hydro uses the kinetic energy of moving water to generate electricity.

Overall, the new analysis reveals a positive long-term picture in the battle to reduce reliance on burning fossil fuels for energy. 

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. 

However, 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.

Under its UN climate plans, the country aims to reduce economy-wide emissions by at least 81 per cent by 2035, relative to 1990 levels.

The UK also aims to reach net zero by 2050, meaning all greenhouse gas emissions would be equal to those removed from the atmosphere. 

However, the UK public have their own responsibility to curb their individual ‘carbon footprint’, by reducing their meat intake, switch to an EV and fly less.