UK emissions fall 3.6% in 2024 as coal use drops to lowest since 1666.
UK greenhouse gas emissions fell by 3.6% in 2024 as coal use dropped to the lowest level since 1666, the year of the Great Fire of London
Yay. It's not often you hear good news.
That's seriously impressive. If everyone did this the future would definitely look a bit brighter.
The latest 14MtCO2e (3.6%) reduction takes UK emissions down to 371MtCO2e, according to Carbon Brief’s new analysis.
This is the lowest since 1872 and on par with 1926, when there was a general strike, as shown in the figure below. In 1872, Queen Victoria was on the throne and Wanderers beat Royal Engineers in the first-ever FA Cup final, held at Kennington Oval in south London.
It's great progress and looks like we'll keep dropping hard for quite a while. Getting down to pre-Industrial Revolution levels will be key.
