Chart of the week | UK carbon emissions were down 10% in 2020

BEIS published its provisional 2020 UK greenhouse gas emissions figures on 25 March. In this ‘Chart of the week’, we consider the significant impact of COVID-19 and the resulting lockdowns in the UK on carbon emissions last year.

Carbon emissions in the UK are provisionally estimated to have fallen by 10.7% in 2020 from 2019, to 326.1Mt, and total greenhouse gas emissions by 8.9% to 414.1mn tones carbon dioxide equivalent. This is the largest proportional fall in UK greenhouse gas emissions in a single year since this data series began in 1990, larger than the 8.6% fall seen in 2009 during the recession.

Nick Palmer

Nick Palmer

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