UK’s carbon footprint shrank by 13% in 2020 amid pandemic, Government data shows
The UK produced a total 583 million tons of greenhouse gases in 2020 compared to 670 million tons in 2019.
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Your support makes all the difference.The UK’s carbon footprint shrank by an estimated 13% in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Government data shows.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs updated its emissions data on Wednesday with figures from 2020, the year when the country was first plunged into nationwide lockdowns from late March.
The carbon footprint data, which includes emissions from any consumption of products produced in the UK, encompasses the seven main greenhouse gases: CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, Hydro-fluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, nitrogen trifluoride and sulphur hexafluoride.
It suggests that the UK produced a total 583 million tons of the greenhouse gases that year compared to 670 million tons in 2019.
This sharp 13% decrease compares to just 3% drop in the UK’s emissions between the preceding years from 2018 to 2019.
Meanwhile, emissions increased between 2017 and 2018, with the country producing 672 million tons and 690 million tons respectively.
The 2020 decrease was driven by falling emissions in transport by UK residents, goods and services produced in the UK and imported goods, all likely caused by large proportions of the population isolating at home.
The only area in which 2020 saw an increase in emissions was household heating.
The UK’s carbon footprint has been steadily decreasing since a peak in 2007, where the country emitted 959 million tons.
Emissions from 2020 are 39% lower than the 2007 peak, the figures suggest.
Dustin Benton, policy director at Green Alliance warned that the UK must not become complacent in terms of tackling emissions despite the decrease in 2020.
He said: “We should have expected emissions to fall in 2020, it was a really weird year.
“We shut down the economy and we stopped people travelling because of Covid, so naturally emissions were always going to fall.
“This doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a trend.
“Our work in Green Alliance policy tracker shows that the UK is seriously off track on meeting its future carbon commitments.
“So we shouldn’t be complacent and think that just because there was one very odd but good year from the emissions perspective that we’re on track to net zero.”
PA has contacted the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero for comment.