Carbon Brief have released another update to what has become one of my favourite graphs: the graph of the UK’s falling carbon emissions. The downward curve continues, past the hiccup of the post-Covid bounce-back and onwards towards zero. As Carbon Brief highlight, emissions in 2024 were the same as the down-spike of the general strike in the 1920s, when coal production paused.
Emissions are similar today to what they were in Victorian times, 1872 to be precise.
This is one of my favourite graphs because it proves that the transition to a low carbon future is well underway. It shows that it is possible to reduce emissions, and we can measure exactly what it is that is making the difference. As Carbon Brief describe in detail, the fall in 2024 is due to the closing of the last coal power station, and a pause in steel production as steel plants are re-configured around electric arc furnaces. The number of electric vehicles is now putting a dent in transport emissions.
All of this has been done without turning our backs on a modern economy. Even the Daily Mail have noticed this progress.
Sure, there are caveats. I know them and have written about them before. (Here are outsourced emissions, before you ask). Progress can be reversed, especially if we do silly things like expand airports. None of that changes the underlying truth that the UK’s carbon emissions have been falling for as long as I’ve been alive.
There are still some hard yards between us and the foot of the carbon mountain, but let’s take that message and run with it. This is the point that we should take from this graph, and use it to motivate and accelerate our climate action: Britain is actually winning when it comes to climate change.
The Earthbound Report 