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UK / Energy & Net Zero

Net zero

What net zero means in UK law, the policy architecture behind it, current Labour government targets, the global primary energy mix since 1980, and a critique of UK net zero policy from the Great British Business Council.

Section 1

What is net zero?

Net zero means reducing the greenhouse gases a country emits to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions balanced by removals such as forests or carbon capture. The UK was the first major economy to legislate a net zero target.

The Climate Change Act 2008 originally required an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 against 1990 levels. It was amended in June 2019 to require a 100% reduction — i.e. net zero — by 2050. The target is set in domestic law and applies to the whole UK economy. The independent Climate Change Committee (CCC) advises Parliament on progress.

Section 2

Government policies on net zero — architecture

The UK's net zero framework is a stack of statutory targets, advisory bodies, and successive sectoral delivery plans.

  • Climate Change Act 2008. The legal foundation; sets the 2050 target.
  • Carbon Budgets. Legally binding five-year caps on UK emissions, set twelve years in advance. Six budgets exist to date, covering 2008–2037. The UK has met carbon budgets 1, 2, and 3.
  • Climate Change Committee (CCC). Independent statutory body that advises government and publishes annual progress reports to Parliament.
  • Net Zero Strategy (October 2021). The original sector-by-sector plan to reach net zero by 2050.
  • Carbon Budget Delivery Plan (March 2023). Set out how Carbon Budgets 4–6 (2023–2037) would be met under the Conservative government. Replaced under Labour by the 2025 plan below.
  • Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan (October 2025). The current Labour government plan for Carbon Budgets 4–6.
  • Great British Energy Act 2025. Received Royal Assent in May 2025; created Great British Energy, a publicly owned clean-power company.

Section 3

Current Labour government targets

  • Net zero by 2050 (statutory, unchanged).
  • Clean Power 2030: at least 95% of electricity generation from low-carbon sources by 2030, led by the National Energy System Operator.
  • ZEV mandate: 2030 phase-out date for new petrol and diesel cars reinstated; zero-emission vehicle sales mandate in force.
  • ODA-funded UK International Climate Finance commitments continue.
  • 2024 territorial emissions: 413.7 MtCO₂e, down 2.5% on 2023 and 50.4% below 1990 levels (DESNZ, “Provisional UK greenhouse gas emissions 2024”, March 2025).
  • The CCC's 2025 Progress Report assessed that 24–32% of the emissions reductions required by 2030 are currently covered by credible policy.

Section 4

Global primary energy, 1980–2024

Three views of the same dataset: total terawatt-hours, kilowatt-hours per person, and share of the mix. Figures are global, not UK-specific.

Total primary energy by source

Terawatt-hours (TWh), substitution method

  • Coal
  • Oil
  • Natural gas
  • Nuclear
  • Hydropower
  • Solar
  • Wind
  • Other renewables
  • Modern biofuels
  • Traditional biomass
050,000100,000150,000200,000250,0001980198519901995200020052010201520202024

Source: Energy Institute, Statistical Review of World Energy (2025); Smil, Energy Transitions (2017); processed by Our World in Data. Population: UN World Population Prospects. 'Substitution method': non-fossil electricity is converted into the primary energy that would be needed to produce it at fossil-fuel efficiency. Figures are global, not UK-specific.

Per-capita primary energy by source

Kilowatt-hours per person per year

  • Coal
  • Oil
  • Natural gas
  • Nuclear
  • Hydropower
  • Solar
  • Wind
  • Other renewables
  • Modern biofuels
  • Traditional biomass
05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,0001980198519901995200020052010201520202024

Source: Energy Institute, Statistical Review of World Energy (2025); Smil, Energy Transitions (2017); processed by Our World in Data. Population: UN World Population Prospects. 'Substitution method': non-fossil electricity is converted into the primary energy that would be needed to produce it at fossil-fuel efficiency. Figures are global, not UK-specific.

Share of primary energy by source

Percent of total, normalised to 100% per year

  • Coal
  • Oil
  • Natural gas
  • Nuclear
  • Hydropower
  • Solar
  • Wind
  • Other renewables
  • Modern biofuels
  • Traditional biomass
0%20%40%60%80%100%1980198519901995200020052010201520202024

Source: Energy Institute, Statistical Review of World Energy (2025); Smil, Energy Transitions (2017); processed by Our World in Data. Population: UN World Population Prospects. 'Substitution method': non-fossil electricity is converted into the primary energy that would be needed to produce it at fossil-fuel efficiency. Figures are global, not UK-specific.

Section 5

Critiques of net zero policy from “Premeditated Industrial Destruction”

The following critiques are summarised from Premeditated Industrial Destruction (Great British Business Council, March 2026), authored by Catherine McBride OBE, David Turver, and Brian Monteith. The report is an advocacy paper. Its stated focus is the economic effects of UK Net Zero regulation rather than climate science. The points below are the report's claims, presented as such.

  1. UK energy reality. The report states that roughly 78% of UK energy consumption still comes from oil, gas, and coal despite two decades of policy. Gas alone is around 40% of total energy consumption. Electricity accounts for only 22% of final energy consumption.
  2. Emissions accounting. Territorial emissions exclude emissions embedded in imported goods. The report estimates the UK imported goods carrying 180 million tonnes of CO₂ in 2024.
  3. Global share. UK emissions have fallen to roughly 0.8% of global emissions, down from 1% in 2019. The report argues UK reductions are too small to affect global emissions while global emissions continue to rise.
  4. Industrial offshoring. The report attributes UK industrial decline — including refinery closures (from 18 in the 1970s to 4 today, with Grangemouth and Lindsey closing since 2019), 95% of primary aluminium production lost, and blast-furnace steelmaking ending at Port Talbot in 2024 — to high industrial energy costs, carbon taxes, and the Emissions Trading Scheme.
  5. Tax burden on UK oil and gas. A 78% marginal rate, comprising 30% ring-fenced Corporation Tax, 10% Supplementary Charge, and 38% Energy Profits Levy (the “windfall tax”). The report calls for the Energy Profits Levy and Carbon Price Support to be repealed.
  6. Norway as comparator. Norway taxes its oil and gas sector at a similar 78% marginal rate but allows full upfront deduction of investment costs, cash refunds for losses, and continues to issue exploration licences. In 2025 Norway completed 49 exploration wells, finding 21 new discoveries. The UK is not issuing new licences.
  7. Stranded UK reserves. The report cites the Gainsborough Trough onshore gas field in Lincolnshire (Deloitte estimate: up to £112bn GDP contribution, £27bn in direct tax) and 77 million tonnes of economically recoverable coal as resources currently being left in the ground.
  8. Specific policies the report recommends scrapping. The Energy Profits Levy, Carbon Price Support, the ZEV mandate, EV subsidies, the planned UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on aluminium, and central and local government procurement rules requiring carbon-reduction plans from contractors.
  9. Coal. The report argues for lifting restrictions on coal mining, citing the Whitehaven metallurgical mine (planning permission overturned in 2024), and argues for new domestic coal-fired generation as ageing gas plants retire.
  10. Future demand. The report cites Oxford Economics in projecting UK gas demand for dispatchable power to rise from approximately 8 TWh to 26 TWh by 2030 to meet AI and data-centre load growth.
  11. Treaty arrangements. The report suggests the UK should consider exiting the Paris Agreement, the European Convention on Human Rights, and similar agreements to remove legal barriers to its proposed reforms.

Source: McBride, Turver, Monteith, “Premeditated Industrial Destruction”, Great British Business Council, March 2026.

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