Net Zero Barely Cutting Emissions, Government Figures Show

Real carbon emissions down just 15% since 1996 – despite over £100 billion spent

The bill for cutting UK emissions of greenhouse gases already stands at well over £100 billion, but what difference has it actually made?

The Government has published the latest annual assessment of the UK’s carbon footprint and the findings suggest that the money spent to date has had little effect. Officials have measured what are known as Consumption Based Emissions, which include emissions embedded in imported goods and services, minus of course those embedded in UK exports.

The figures we normally see are based around territorial emissions, those physically produced within the UK’s border. These say that we have cut GHGs by 55% since 1990. It is these territorial emissions that are targeted in Carbon Budgets. And it is these that must be eliminated by 2050 by law to achieve Net Zero.

But the new figures show that our real emissions have really only fallen by 15% between 1996 and 2023. All that has happened is that we have offshored our emissions, especially to China. According to DEFRA: