The UK phases out the use of coal for electricity production. The generation of power from renewable sources has more than doubled in the last decade. (cato.org)

Cristen Hemingway Jaynes

Electricity in the United Kingdom was the cleanest ever in 2024, with solar and wind generating all-time highs, a new analysis by Carbon Brief said.

The report found that per unit carbon dioxide emissions have fallen by over two-thirds in a decade. The analysis attributed this to the phasing out of coal in the UK, which now generates less than half the amount of electricity from fossil fuels than it did a decade ago. Meanwhile, the generation of power from renewable sources has more than doubled.

“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,” the Carbon Brief analysis said. “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.”

As the report pointed out, the UK shut down its last coal-fired power station in September, ending 142 years of coal burning and making the UK the first G7 country to totally phase out the dirty fuel.

“The end of coal power, combined with the rise of renewables, means the UK’s electricity was the cleanest ever in 2024,” the report said.

Fossil fuels made up 29 percent of electricity generation in the UK last year — the lowest level ever recorded — with renewables accounting for a record 45 percent, nuclear and biomass each generating roughly 13 percent, imports 11 percent and solar producing four percent, according to Carbon Brief.

This resulted in each unit of electricity generating an average of 124 grams of carbon, compared with 419 grams of “carbon intensity” for each kilowatt hour in 2014.

“The UK’s cleaner electricity generation in 2024 makes electrified heat and transport far more beneficial in terms of reducing CO2 emissions,” the analysis said. “For example, an average petrol car in the UK generates 2.7 tons of CO2 (tCO2) per year. In 2014, an EV would have generated 830kg of CO2 – but in 2024 this was just 245kg.”

Gas was still the biggest single source of power in the UK last year, generating 28 percent, in comparison with 26 percent from wind energy, reported The Guardian.

“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,” Carbon Brief said in its report. “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.”

The analysis said wind was “expected to form the backbone of the nation’s electricity system by 2030.”

The Labor government has pledged to decarbonize electricity in the UK by then, with ambitious plans to ramp up solar and wind, The Guardian reported.

“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,” the report said. “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.”

The target of creating an electricity grid that is 95 percent low-carbon by 2030 is possible, according to the UK Energy Research Centre, but there is “very little room for error,” reported The Guardian.

Reprinted with permission from the Ecowatch blog on January 2, 2025 found at https://www.ecowatch.com/uk-electricity-clean-sources-2024.html