Net Zero facts and stats

Quick links

The economic potential of Net Zero
UK progress and leadership
Regional benefits
Jobs and Skills
Cost of Net Zero vs cost of ‘not zero’ 
The risk of stalling our Net Zero ambition
Consequences from Allocation Round 5
The impact of ‘not zero’ on health and the environment 
Public support 
Need for grid upgrades
Energy efficiency

The economic potential of Net Zero 

• Since 1990, the power sector has reduced its emissions by around 70%¹. At the same time UK GDP has grown by 65%.² 
• The ONS estimates that, in 2021, the UK’s low carbon and renewable energy economy generated £54.4 billion in turnover and employed 247,000 full-time equivalent workers.³ 
• The Net Zero economy could be worth up to £1 trillion in the UK by 2030⁴. That’s around one third of the value of the UK’s economy today.⁵ 
• The Net Zero economy is 1.7 times more productive than the UK national average⁶ in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA) per employee. 
• In 2021, exports from the UK’s low carbon and renewable energy economy amounted to £10.4 billion.⁷ 
• Low carbon investment must scale up to £50bn each year between 2030 and 2050 to deliver Net Zero, the majority of which will come from the private sector. This investment will generate substantial fuel savings, and in time, these savings will cancel out initial investment costs entirely.⁸ 
• 73% of people in Great Britain believe that investing into infrastructure will create new jobs and boost the economy.⁹

Sources:

¹ The Sixth Carbon Budget (CCC December 2020)
² DESNZ (2023) Powering Up Britain
³ ONS (2023)
⁴ McKinsey (2021) 
⁵ IMF (n.d.)
⁶ CBI (2023) 
⁷ Energy UK (2023)  
⁸ CCC (2020) Sixth Carbon Budget 
⁹ GIIA and Ipsos Public Attitudes Tracker (2023)

UK progress and leadership 

• The UK has the four largest offshore wind farms in the world off its coast, and the second greatest offshore wind capacity in the world (13.6GW) after China (26.6GW) at present. 
• Political consensus and strong collaboration between industry and Government catapulted the UK to leadership, also bringing down costs. ¹⁰ 
• In the last three decades, UK greenhouse gas emissions have fallen at an average rate of 13 MtCO₂e every year, the equivalent of what 2,826 cars produce per annum¹¹, but outside of the electricity supply sector, emissions have fallen at an average rate of just 7 MtCO₂e per year.¹² 
• The UK currently produces the second highest share of low carbon electricity output behind France. In 2023, of Britain’s electricity output, 66% is forecast to be low carbon.¹³ 
• Of our installed low carbon energy capacity in 2022, solar and onshore wind account for 23%, offshore wind accounts for 23%, nuclear accounts for 14%, bio gas-liquid-solids accounts for 11%, and hydro accounts for 3%.¹⁴ 

Sources:

¹⁰ World Forum Offshore Wind (2022) 
¹¹ USEPA (2023) 
¹² CCC (2020) The Sixth Carbon Budget  
¹³ Energy UK / Oxford Economics (2023) 
¹⁴ Energy UK / Oxford Economics (2023) 

Regional benefits 

• Every region in the UK reaps the economic benefits of the Net Zero economy when compared to London.  
• Scotland, the Midlands, and Yorkshire & the Humber are the most productive regions in the Net Zero economy per employee.¹⁵  
• For example, in the East and West Midlands, who have historically had lower productivity, the Net Zero economy is 2.5 times more productive than the regional average.¹⁶ 

Sources:

¹⁵ ECIU (2023) 
¹⁶ CBI (2023)  

Jobs and Skills 

• Up to 725,000 net new jobs in low-carbon sectors could be created during the Net Zero transition by 2030.¹⁷ 
• The average wage within the Net Zero economy is 28% higher than the UK average.¹⁸ 
• The benefits of a growing Net Zero economy are already showing. Siemens Gamesa and Associated British Ports’ investments in offshore wind manufacturing in Hull have been attributed with reducing unemployment claims by close to 60% and increasing GVA in the region.¹⁹ 

Sources:

¹⁷ CCC (2023)  
¹⁸ CBI (2023) / ECIU (2023) 
¹⁹ CCC (2020) The Sixth Carbon Budget  

Cost of Net Zero vs cost of ‘not zero’ 

• The Climate Change Committee suggests reaching Net Zero by 2050 would cost less than 1 per cent of GDP each year through to 2050 – half of the UK’s defence budget.²⁰ 
• UK debt however could be 23 per cent of GDP higher in 2050 if action on Net Zero is delayed by 10 years. This would double the cost of achieving Net Zero.²¹ 
• In the UK, reliance on gas alone could add around 13% of GDP to public debt by 2050²². 
• Research by Oxford University has shown that a fast transition to clean energy is cheaper than a slow or no transition; the faster we scale-up low carbon technologies, the quicker their costs will be driven down and the more we will save.²³  
• Climate change will also damage the UK economy through the disruption of the global economic system, highlighting the need for the UK to lead the transition.²⁴ 

Sources:

²⁰ London School of Economics (2022) 
²¹ DESNZ (2022) Mission Zero: Independent Review of Net Zero 
²² OBR (2023) Fiscal risks and sustainability
²³ University of Oxford (2022) 
²⁴ London School of Economics (2022)  

The risk of stalling our Net Zero ambition 

• Of the world’s eight largest economies, the UK is forecast to have the slowest growth in low carbon electricity generation between now and 2030.²⁵ 
• Global competition for investment has had a significant impact on the UK’s growth forecasts. Current estimations between 2023-2030, have the United Kingdom growing at 2.9%, compared to China’s at 7.2%, the United States’ at 6.4%, and Germany’s at 6%.²⁶ 
• When it comes to low carbon generation per capita, the United Kingdom has less low-carbon generation capacity in the developed world. This includes the US (1.3 kW), Japan (1.3 kW), and the European Union (1.4kW). At 1.8 kW per person, Germany, with its solar and onshore wind, and France, with its vast nuclear fleet, at only 0.9 kW.²⁷ 
• Other major economies are acting fast to encourage investment and develop new technologies and industries.²⁸ 
  • Through the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, the USA has committed more than $370 billion to clean energy.  
  • Germany has proposed a €177 billion Climate and Transformation Fund from the 2023-2026 federal budget to retrofit buildings and support programmes for industry.²⁹ 
• The United Kingdom currently ranks 30^th out of 38 OECD nations on the average proportion of capital investments that businesses are able to recover.³⁰  
• Without fast and decisive action, the UK risks losing opportunities to other countries and failing to position itself as a global partner for trade and collaboration around Net Zero.³¹ 

Sources:

²⁵ Energy UK (2023)
²⁶ Energy UK / Oxford Economics (2023) 
²⁷ Energy UK / Oxford Economics (2023) 
²⁸ DESNZ (2022) Mission Zero: Independent Review of Net Zero 
²⁹ Government page (2022) 
³⁰ Tax Foundation (2023) 
³¹ DESNZ (2022) Mission Zero: Independent Review of Net Zero 

Consequences from Allocation Round 5 (AR5)

AR5 missed out on 5GW offshore wind, which according to Drax Electric Insights means risking losing out on 26TWh of clean power every year. The consequences of this would be:

• Missing out on 6% of electricity demand in 2030
• Replacing that power with a combination of UK fossil fuel generation (57%-65% natural gas) and imports (15%-19%) from France
• An additional 6 million tonnes of CO2
• Increasing power sector emissions by 21%-23%
• Increasing wholesale power prices by more than 20% – from £4.50-£7.50/MWh[1]

Sources:

[1] Electric Insights AR5 report (Drax, 2023)

The impact of ‘not zero’ on health and the environment 

• It is estimated that premature deaths from air pollution caused by fossil fuel combustion cost the economy around £54 billion a year.³² 
• Between 2017 and 2035, Public Health England estimates that there will be around 2.5 million air pollution related cases of disease.³³  
• The UK has already begun to experience financial losses due to climate change. For example, the winter floods of 2013-2014 resulting from heavy rainfall, made more likely by climate change, cost the economy £450 million in insured losses alone.³⁴ 
• The OECD suggests that if the economic benefits of avoiding damages from extreme weather events are considered, taking action on climate change alongside pro-growth policies could add almost 5 per cent GDP to G20 countries by 2050.³⁵ 
• The world has warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius since pre-Industrial times.  
• At 2 degrees Celsius of warming, it’s estimated 18% of insects, 16% of plants and 8% of vertebrates will see their habitats reduced by more than half ³⁶, and almost all coral reefs will die.³⁷ 
• The area covered by sea ice was at a record low in July 2023. An area around 10 times the size of the UK missing, compared to the 1981-2010 average.³⁸ 
• Global sea levels have risen at an estimated 20 per cent in the last century with the fastest rise occurring in the last two decades and accelerating each year.³⁹ 
• In July 2023, the world recorded seven of the hottest days on record.⁴⁰ 
   

Sources:

³² Imperial College London (2019) 
³³ Imperial College London (2019) 
³⁴ Imperial College London (n.d.)  
³⁵ Imperial College London (n.d.) 
³⁶ NASA (n.d.) 
³⁷ NASA (n.d.) 
³⁸ BBC (2023)  
³⁹ NASA (n.d.) 
⁴⁰ University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer (2023) 

Public support 

• Polling from September 2022 highlighted the overwhelming public support for building new wind and solar to tackle the cost of energy crisis: ⁴¹ 
  • 77% of people throughout the UK think the Government should use new wind and solar farms to reduce electricity bills. 
  • 76% of people support building renewable energy projects in their local area. 
  • 64% of 2019 Conservative voters think the Government should end the block on onshore wind in England where there is local support, and only 16% think the block should remain. 
  • 74% of people polled are in favour of onshore wind. 
• Polling from July 2023 showed that: 
  • 57% of switching voters (those who supported the Conservatives in the last election but intend to vote Labour in the upcoming election) believe the Government is not investing enough in the green economy or taking sufficient action with climate change.⁴² 
  • 58% of switching voters believe that growing the renewable energy sector will have a positive effect on the UK economy overall, while only 11% disagree.⁴³ 
  • There are far more current Conservative voters who believe that the Government could do more on climate change, renewables, and the green economy than those who think the government has ‘gone too far’.⁴⁴ 
  • Ramping up investment in renewables to make the UK a net energy exporter by 2030 enjoys overwhelming support among all voters (77%), increasing to 84% among Conservative supporters, and to 88% among switching voters.⁴⁵ 
• The DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker for Spring 2023 showed that: 
  • 85% of people supported the use of renewable energy. Opposition to renewables is between 1% for solar energy, wave and tidal, and 6% for biomass. ⁴⁶ 
    • 88% are supportive of solar; 83% are supportive of wave and tidal; 83% are supportive of offshore wind; 78% are supportive of onshore wind; 71% are supportive of biomass. 
  • For installation of solar panels, better financial support remained the most important encouragement factor at 79%; others would be encouraged by better incentives to sell electricity to the national grid (46%), more information about solar panels (36%), receiving guidance on local planning rules (27%), or community incentives (24%).⁴⁷ 
  • 75% of the public were aware of Energy Performance Certificates.⁴⁸  
• 68% of people do not believe that the UK is doing enough to meet its infrastructure needs. This is a 4% increase since 2021.⁴⁹
• A majority of people want to do their bit to help combat climate change, with three in four (78%) UK adults expressing concern about it and four in five (82%) recognising their role in reducing their own impact.⁵⁰

Sources:

⁴¹ Renewable UK (2022)  
⁴² Renewable UK (2023)  
⁴³ Renewable UK (2023) 
⁴⁴ Renewable UK (2023) 
⁴⁵ Renewable UK (2023) 
⁴⁶ DESNZ (2023) 
⁴⁷ DESNZ (2023) 
⁴⁸ DESNZ (2023) 
⁴⁹ GIIA and Ipsos Public Attitudes Tracker (2023)
⁵⁰ Which? Sustainability Report (2023)

Need for grid upgrades 

• It’s expected that by 2035 the UK will see a 60% increase in electricity demand.⁵¹ 
• An estimated £170-£210 billion will need to be invested in the grid by 2050 to achieve our Net Zero goals.⁵² 
• To achieve the 2035 power sector decarbonisation target, over five times more land transmission lines need to be built than have been in the last 30 years, in addition to four times more marine transmission cables than our current offshore network.⁵³ 
• Largely due to the speed of grid upgrades not matching that of deployment of renewable energy and energy storage capacity, wind curtailment more than tripled between 2016 and 2022.⁵⁴ 
• Curtailment is when renewables have to shut down their operations due to insufficient grid capacity. This cost British electricity consumers £2 billion in 2022 alone.⁵⁵ 
• Modelling predicts that curtailment due to insufficient grid capacity will account for 11% of total renewable generation in 2030, more than triple the volume expected if Ofgem and National Grid’s plans are delivered.⁵⁶ 

Sources:

⁵¹ NAO (2023) 
⁵² Regen (n.d.)  
⁵³ National Grid (2023)  
⁵⁴ Aurora ER (2023) 
⁵⁵ Aurora ER (2023)  
⁵⁶ AURORA (2023) 

Energy efficiency  

• 80% of dwellings in England and Wales with an EPC rating use mains gas to fuel their central heating.⁵⁷ 
• More than half (56%) of residential properties in England are rated at EPC D or lower.⁵⁸ 
• There are currently 412 heat pumps per 100,000 people, compared to the European average of 3,068 per 100,000.⁵⁹ 
• The UK’s 28.6 million homes are among the least energy efficient in Europe, losing heat up to three times faster than those on the continent.⁶⁰ 
• In 2022, 55,000 heat pumps were sold, compared to 620,000 in France.⁶¹ 
• The most common type of heat pump is an air source heat pump. 3.5 times more energy is transferred to the home as heat than is consumed as electricity to run the pump, making it a highly efficient form of heating, compared to 0.9 times for a typical mains gas boiler.⁶² 
• Heat pumps cut home emissions by between 20 and 80 per cent when compared to the use of a gas boiler, depending on the emissions-intensity of the electricity used to run the heat pump.⁶³ 
• Upgrading 13 million homes to EPC C could save customers £24 billion on bills by 2030. This would also reduce strain on energy networks, having further economic savings associated with reduced peak demand. There would be an additional benefit to public health, saving the NHS £2 billion in the same timeframe. In total, almost £40 billion in cumulative economic and social benefits can be expected from these improvements, including: 
  • £24 billion in consumer bill savings 
  • £4 billion in energy system savings 
  • £9.3 billion in societal savings 
  • £2 billion in savings to the NHS⁶⁴ 
• Analysis by Knight Frank of 30,000 homes found that those moving from a rating of F or G to C saw an increase in value of 19.6%.⁶⁵ 

Sources:

⁵⁷ ONS (2022) 
⁵⁸ Knight Frank (2023) 
⁵⁹ Heatpumps (2023) 
⁶⁰ Imperial College London (2022) 
⁶¹ Heatpumps (2023) 
⁶² Good Energy (2023) 
⁶³ IEA (n.d.) 
⁶⁴ Citizens Advice (2023) 
⁶⁵ Investec (n.d.)