How Britain decarbonised faster than any other rich country (2024)

FAQs

How Britain decarbonised faster than any other rich country? ›

The elimination of power stations that burn coal has helped Britain cut its carbon emissions faster than any other rich country since 1990 (see charts).

With renewables now accounting for more than 40% of the country's electricity – up from just 7% in 2010, this shows the UK is leading the way on cleaner energy. These reductions are largely due to cutting emissions from energy generation, through the shift away from using coal to using renewables.

In 2020, the latest year for which all three measures are available, territorial emissions were 404 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (mt CO2e), residence emissions 489 mt CO2e, and footprint emissions 582 mt CO2e.

The UK Government has committed to all new cars and vans sold being zero emission by 2035, and in September 2023 announced – in conjunction with the Welsh Government, the Scottish Government, and the Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure – that a zero- emission vehicle mandate will be introduced from January ...

At the current pace of change, the UK is set to fail to hit its target of decarbonising the power sector by 2035. This in turn will fundamentally undermine our ability to hit net zero by 2050, reduce our dependence on imported fossil fuels and harness the cheapest form of electricity generation—renewables.

1. Sweden. It is no surprise that Sweden tops the index: the country is aiming to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 59% by 2030 compared with 2005, and to have a net-zero carbon economy by 2045. It was also the first country to introduce carbon pricing and has the highest carbon tax in the world at €122 per ton in 2023.

China may be the biggest emitter overall, but the average American is responsible for nearly twice as much climate pollution as the average person in China.

The UK is actually one of the world's greatest contributors to global warming over time. Our long history of burning fossil fuels at scale began during the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This led to high carbon emissions both in the US and the UK.

Fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – are by far the largest contributor to global climate change, accounting for over 75 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions. As greenhouse gas emissions blanket the Earth, they trap the sun's heat.

As of 11 November 2021, it showed that eight countries had self-declared they have achieved net zero. It says that a further 16 countries have a pledge in law, 59 in a policy document, 21 another kind of declaration or pledge, and 72 countries are discussing or proposing a pledge.

Has the US committed to net zero? ›

The United States has set a goal of net-zero emissions by no later than 2050. ) and is economy-wide. The goal is on a net basis, including both sources of emissions and removals. It does not include emissions from international aviation or international shipping.

WHAT IS NET ZERO? Achieving net zero emissions requires shifting to technologies and energy systems that do not produce greenhouse gas emissions, while removing any remaining emissions from the atmosphere and storing them permanently.

The UK is the world's first major economy to present a net zero Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy. This strategy comes at a time when the UK is striving forward with environmental progress, with economic recovery from the COVID-19 global pandemic, and towards a healthy future for generations to come.

Britain's grid has long been one of the most stable in the world, according to the World Bank. The British grid is also one of the world's cleanest (see chart), emitting a third less carbon dioxide than the German grid did in 2022.

Our brief shows renewable energy can play a leading role in our transition to net zero. While it's likely that nuclear power and other renewables will also have a part to play, our analysis finds that it's entirely possible to power Great Britain on wind and solar alone. '

In 2019 the UK became the first major economy to pass into law a domestic requirement for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Now, we are also committing to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 across UKEF's portfolio and operations.

We are also taking action to reduce air pollution from agriculture which is responsible for 88% of ammonia emissions by: supporting farmers to invest in infrastructure and equipment to reduce emissions. introducing regulations to require farmers to use low emission farming techniques.

Policy developments in 2023

The 2021 Net Zero Strategy set out a series of policies and commitments designed to enable the UK to reach net zero by 2050. It includes measures to deliver emissions reductions to meet targets up to the sixth carbon budget (which covers the period between 2033 and 2037).

After gas, the next-largest driver of falling UK emissions in 2023 was coal, accounting for around 14% of the overall drop in emissions. The decline of coal use in the UK – for homes, railways, factories and power stations – is a major part of the long-term reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over the past 30 years.