UK greenhouse gas emissions 2024

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have recently released their estimates of greenhouse gas emissions for the UK.  Although all of the three categories of emission have seen a decline since 1990, the Footprint (consumption), which are the most useful one to consider saw the smallest fall of 20%. 

 

Details from the ONS release are set out below together with details of how to access the source.

 

Main points

UK greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) are reported on three bases: territorial, residence (or production) and footprint (or consumption).

 

Territorial emissions cover emissions that occur within the UK's borders and are used to track UK-wide progress towards international and domestic targets, such as net zero emissions by 2050; in 2024, total UK territorial emissions were estimated at 371 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2e) – a 54% reduction since 1990.

 

Residence (production) emissions are aligned with the UK National Accounts, enabling emissions to be linked to economic sectors and activity in them; in 2024, total UK production emissions were provisionally estimated at 476 Mt CO2e – a 43% reduction since 1990.

 

Footprint (consumption) emissions cover consumption of all goods and services by the UK, sometimes referred to as "carbon footprint"; in 2022, the latest year for which footprint emissions estimates are available, they were estimated to be 740 Mt CO2e – a 20% reduction since 1990.

 

By comparison, territorial emissions were estimated to be 405 Mt CO2e and residence emissions 500 Mt CO2e in 2022.

 

Emissions on all three measures have declined compared with 1990, with consumption emissions falling at a slower rate than both territorial and residence emissions.

 

 

Footprint (consumption) emissions

A further measure of UK emissions focusing on consumption, known as the "carbon footprint", is published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

 

This accounts for all GHG emissions through the supply chain of goods and services consumed in the UK, wherever they are produced in the world. This includes emissions from UK imports of goods and services and excludes emissions arising from UK-produced goods that are exported.

 

This means that they include emissions from:

aviation and shipping owned by UK companies, used by UK residents

aviation and shipping owned by non-UK companies, used by UK residents

They exclude emissions from:

land, land use and forestry

aviation and shipping owned by UK companies, used by non-UK residents

aviation and shipping owned by non-UK companies, used by non-UK residents

 

This measure helps to understand the UK's global contribution to GHG emissions through UK consumption. For more information on the UK's carbon footprint, see the article Emissions embedded in trade and impacts on climate change.

 

This is the "widest" measure of UK emissions, including emissions embedded in imported materials and products. This means they will not be affected by "carbon leakage", where overseas production for UK consumption is not captured in the territorial emissions measure, for example.

Footprint emissions are classified as official statistics. They are published on a yearly basis with a three-year lag: estimates for 2020 were published in 2023. This measure covers Scopes 1, 2 and 3. See Section 4: Glossary for more details about Scopes 1, 2 and 3.

 

Source

Office for National Statistics (ONS), updated 7 November 2025, ONS website, methodology, Measuring UK greenhouse gas emissions.

 

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/methodologies/measuringukgreenhousegasemissions