By Susanna Twidale
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 4% in 2024, provisional government data showed on Thursday, as the country’s last coal-fired power plant closed and emissions fell from the industrial sector.
Britain has a target to reach net zero emissions by 2050, which will require a huge increase in renewable electricity and a switch to cleaner electric vehicles.
Total greenhouse gas emissions were estimated at 371 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2024, down from 385 million tons in 2023, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) said.
The electricity sector saw the largest drop, with emissions down 15% due to higher electricity imports, greater renewable generation, and an end to coal-fired power production, DESNZ said.
Britain last year became the first G7 country to stop using coal to generate power.
Industrial sector emissions fell by 9%, which DSENZ said was largely due to blast furnace closures in the iron and steel industry and lower coal use across the sector.
Britain’s biggest steelworks at Port Talbot in Wales ended production in September last year after more than 100 years of steelmaking.
Emissions in the transport sector, Britain’s largest source of greenhouse gases, fell 2% due to reductions in road vehicle diesel use, DSENZ said.
The data means Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions have fallen around 54% from 1990 levels.
As part of efforts to meet the net zero goal, it set an interim target to cut greenhouse gases by 81% by 2035 at last year’s international climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan.
(Reporting by Susanna Twidale, Editing by Louise Heavens and Jan Harvey)
