📉 UK emissions at lowest level since 1872

• Greenhouse gas emissions fell by 2.4 percent in 2025 and are now 54 percent below 1990 levels.
• Coal use halved and is at its lowest since 1600, while gas use dropped to the lowest level since 1992.
• Over 700,000 new electric vehicles were registered during the year, saving a combined total of more than 7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

Emissions lower than during the 1926 general strike

The UK's greenhouse gas emissions fell to 364 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2025, according to an analysis by Carbon Brief. This is the lowest level since 1872 and means emissions are now below the level recorded during the 1926 general strike, when the country's industrial base was brought to a standstill, according to Carbon Brief.

Since 1990, emissions have fallen in 27 of 36 years. During the same period, the country's GDP has nearly doubled, with growth of 95 percent.

Coal use at its lowest in 400 years

The UK's coal consumption fell by 56 percent in 2025, landing just below one million tonnes. That is 97 percent lower than the 37 million tonnes burned in 2015, and 99.6 percent below the peak of 221 million tonnes in 1956. The level is the lowest since the year 1600 – when Elizabeth I was queen and Shakespeare was writing Hamlet.

The last coal-fired power plant, Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, closed on 30 September 2024. The closure accounted for nearly three-fifths of the decline in coal demand in 2025. A further third was due to reduced coal-based steel production, including the shutdown of two blast furnaces at Port Talbot in Wales in 2024.

The Port Talbot site is now being converted to electric arc furnace production, a method that does not require coal. The same shift is under discussion for the British Steel plant in Scunthorpe.

Gas use down to 1992 levels

Gas consumption fell by 1.5 percent in 2025, to the lowest level since 1992. Since 2010, total gas demand has dropped by nearly two-fifths. Half of that reduction is due to a 50 percent fall in gas-fired electricity generation, replaced by renewable energy. A third comes from reduced heating of homes, thanks to more efficient gas boilers and better insulation.

In 2025, lower demand from building heating and industry contributed roughly equally to the decline. Record-high temperatures and high gas prices were contributing factors.

Electric vehicles cut emissions despite rising traffic

Oil use fell by 0.9 percent in 2025, even though traffic increased by around one percent. A key explanation is the electric vehicle fleet. There are now nearly three million electric cars, plug-in hybrids and electric vans on UK roads, making up five percent of the car fleet and two percent of vans.

These electrified vehicles are cutting emissions by more than 7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. The 700,000 new electric vehicles registered in 2025 alone saved nearly 2 million tonnes. EV owners saved a total of 2 million pounds in lower fuel costs during the year, equivalent to more than 700 pounds per electric car and more than 1,100 pounds per electric van.

At the same time, the number of diesel vehicles has decreased by 2.8 million since 2019.

Heat pumps growing but from a low base

Heat pump sales increased by 25 percent in 2025 but still stood at just 125,000 installations. By the end of the year, the UK had a total of around 450,000 domestic heat pumps, saving a combined total of approximately 0.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with gas heating.

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