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Net Zero facts and stats

This page has been created to support communications around Net Zero, with evidence, statistics, and facts.

Everything is sourced and we will endeavour to keep it up to date with new reports and analysis as they are published.

If you have any feedback or would like to notify us of any useful information or reports, please contact press@energy-uk.org.uk.

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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
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 79%.¹ At the same time UK GDP has grown by 75%.²
The ONS estimates that, in 2022, the UK’s low carbon and renewable energy economy generated £69.4 billion in turnover, an increase of 28% from 2021, and employed 272,400 full-time equivalent workers.³
The Net Zero economy could be worth up to £1 trillion in the UK by 2030.⁴ 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 average in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA) per employee.⁶
In 2022, exports from the UK’s low carbon and renewable energy economy amounted to £10.2 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

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 (14.7GW) after China (31.5GW) at present¹⁰^,¹¹.
Political consensus and strong collaboration between industry and Government catapulted the UK to leadership, also bringing down costs.
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 annum,¹² but outside of the electricity supply sector, emissions have fallen at an average rate of just 7 MtCO₂e per year.¹³
The UK currently produces the second highest share of low carbon electricity output behind France.¹⁴ In 2023, 60% of Britain’s electricity was generated from low carbon sources.¹⁵
Of our installed low carbon energy capacity in 2023, solar accounts for 26%, offshore wind accounts for 25%, offshore wind accounts for 24%, bioenergy accounts for 12%, nuclear accounts for 10%, and hydro accounts for 3%.¹⁶

Regional benefits

Every region in the UK reaps the economic benefits of the Net Zero economy when compared to London.
Net zero businesses in the South East, Wales, and the West Midlands are the most productive per employee.¹⁷
Some of the largest net zero hotspots are located in highly deprived areas like Hartlepool, Nottingham, and Redcar and Cleveland, which rank among the top 10% of local authorities for income deprivation in England¹⁸.

Jobs and Skills

Up to 725,000 net new jobs in low-carbon sectors could be created during the Net Zero transition by 2030.¹⁹
The average wage within the Net Zero economy is 23% higher than the UK average.²⁰
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.²¹

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.²²
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.²³
In the UK, reliance on gas alone could add around 13% of GDP to public debt by 2050.²⁴
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.²⁵
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.²⁶

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 2030.²⁷
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%.²⁸
When it comes to low carbon generation capacity per capita, the United Kingdom has less low-carbon generation capacity than most of the developed world. We currently have 0.9kW of low carbon capacity per capita, where the US has 1.3kW, and both France and Germany have 1.8kW.²⁹
Other major economies are acting fast to encourage investment and develop new technologies and industries.³⁰
- Through the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, the USA has committed more than $370 billion to clean energy.³¹
- Germany has proposed a €177 billion Climate and Transformation Fund from the 2023-2026 federal budget to retrofit buildings and support programmes for industry.³²
The United Kingdom currently ranks 14^th out of 38 OECD nations on the average proportion of capital investments that businesses are able to recover.³³
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

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

Every year, air pollution is estimated to cause 40,000 premature deaths and costs the UK economy over £20 billion.³⁴
Between 2017 and 2035, Public Health England estimates that there will be around 2.5 million air pollution related cases of disease.³⁵
The UK has already begun to experience financial losses due to climate change. For example, the flooding that took place in the winter of 2015/16 cost the UK economy some £1.6 billion.³⁶
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 2050.³⁷
The world has warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius since pre-Industrial times³⁸.
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, and almost all coral reefs will die.³⁹
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.⁴⁰
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.⁴¹
In July 2024, the record for the highest global average surface air temperature was beaten twice in a week.⁴²

Public support

Polling by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) from the Spring of 2024 highlighted the overwhelming public support for renewable energy:⁴³
- 84% of people supported the use of renewable energy. Opposition to renewables is between 2% for solar energy and wave and tidal, and 6% for biomass.
  - 88% of people supported solar (including 55% who strongly supported), 83% supported wave and tidal, 83% supported offshore wind, 77% supported onshore wind, and 70% supported biomass.
- Almost three quarters (74%) of those surveyed agreed with the statement, “Renewable energy industries and developments provide economics benefits to the UK”.
  - However, it is important to people that the benefits are felt by the communities where new projects are developed, with 82% of respondents agreeing that they should provide direct benefits to the people living where they are located.
- Concerning windfarms in their local area, support was less enthusiastic, with 43% happy overall for an onshore wind farm to be constructed nearby. Only 13% said they would be unhappy with the proposal. Over a quarter (28%) said they wouldn’t mind either way, and some 11% felt this would not be possible in their local area.
- Support for a solar panel farm being constructed in their local area was slightly more positive, as 53% of respondents were happy overall, and only 9% unhappy. Similarly to with wind farms, many (27%) respondents said that they wouldn’t mind either way.
Energy infrastructure, and pylons in particular, are a hot topic in the news at the moment. Polling commissioned by RenewableUK in April 2024 shows a clear majority supporting new electricity grid infrastructure (such as pylons):⁴⁴
- 59% of those polled support the construction of new electricity grid infrastructure, while just 6% said they would oppose this.
- Support levels were similar (61%) for construction within five miles of people’s homes, as long as it was part of a national programme of renewable energy development. 8% said they opposed this proposition.

Need for grid upgrades

It’s expected that by 2035 the UK will see approximately a 50% increase in electricity demand.⁴⁵
An estimated £170-£210 billion will need to be invested in the grid by 2050 to achieve our Net Zero goals.⁴⁶
To achieve the 2030 clean power target, we will need to build twice as much transmission network infrastructure as we have built over the past decade.⁴⁷
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 2022.⁴⁸
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.⁴⁹
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.⁵⁰

Energy efficiency

73% of dwellings in the UK use mains gas only to fuel their central heating.⁵¹
Half (50%) of residential properties in England and 56% in Wales are rated at EPC D or lower.⁵²
In 2023, heat pumps made up just 3% of heating systems sold in the UK. Our progress is much slower than our European neighbours; in Germany, heat pumps had a market share of 33% in 2023, and in France the share was as high as 61%.⁵³
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.⁵⁴
The most common type of heat pump is an air source heat pump. Three 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. In contrast, as gas boiler typically only transfers 0.9 times the gas used as heat for the home.⁵⁵
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.⁵⁶
Upgrading 13 million homes to EPC C could save customers over £20 billion on bills by 2030. This would also reduce strain on energy networks, having further economic savings associated with reduced peak demand, and significant benefits to public health, reducing the strain on the National Health Service (NHS). In total, almost £40 billion in cumulative economic and social benefits can be expected from these improvements, including:⁵⁷
- £24 billion in consumer bill savings
- £4 billion in energy system savings
- £9.3 billion in societal savings
- £2 billion in savings to the NHS
Analysis by Knight Frank of 30,000 homes found that those moving from an EPC rating of F or G to C saw an increase in value of 19.6%.⁵⁸

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