2 days Ago By Matthew Taylor
The UK’s electricity was the cleanest it has ever been in 2024, with wind and solar generation hitting all-time highs, according to a report. The analysis by Carbon Brief found that in the past decade the UK had more than halved electricity generated from coal and gas and doubled its output from renewables. However, the study found that polluting fossil fuels, which are driving the climate emergency, still generated 29% of the UK’s electricity in 2024, and experts say the government must accelerate its phaseout of coal and gas if it is to meet its climate targets.
In its latest annual assessment Carbon Brief said carbon dioxide pollution for each unit of electricity had fallen to 124g per kilowatt hour, down more than two-thirds from 419g per kilowatt hour in 2014, as the grid has shifted away from carbon-intensive fossil fuels. In the past 12 months renewables including wind, solar and biomass from sources such as burning wood pellets and landfill gas generated a record 45% of the country’s power. Add in electricity generated by nuclear and the total from low-carbon energy sources reached a record 58% in 2024.
The Labour government has promised to decarbonise the UK’s electricity supply by 2030 and has ambitious plans to increase solar and wind production in the next few years. The UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) has said the target to create a 95% low-carbon electricity grid by the end of the decade is possible, but there is “very little room for error”. Today’s analysis showing a continued reduction in fossil fuel generation will be welcomed by ministers.
But the study also found that although figures from the National Energy System Operator (Neso) show wind generating more electricity than gas in 2024, those numbers exclude a significant amount of gas generation – for example from combined heat and power plants at industrial sites. Carbon Brief said that when all sources of gas-powered generation were taken into account, the fossil fuel was still the biggest single source of electricity, generating 28% of the UK’s power in 2024, compared with 26% from wind. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories.
Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion However, if the government pushes ahead with plans to increase wind capacity, and taking into account below-average wind speeds in 2024, the analysis found that wind was likely to overtake gas as the biggest source of power in 2025. Carbon Brief used data from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Neso figures for electricity supplied to the grid in Great Britain, adjusted to include Northern Ireland for its analysis..
