Kemi Badenoch on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: UK emissions fact-check

The UK's carbon footprint has actually fallen in recent years.

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By Gareth Redmond-King

info@eciu.net

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Speaking on the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg [1] on 19th July, Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch MP suggested that the UK's net zero commitment had caused carbon emissions to rise, making climate change worse.

At the end of June, the UK Climate Change Committee published Progress in reducing emissions: 2026 report to Parliament [2]. The report said: “Total greenhouse gas emissions in the UK have been falling steadily since 1990. Including its share of emissions from international aviation and shipping (IAS), which will count towards the Sixth Carbon Budget and later carbon budgets following legislation being laid in Parliament in 2026, the UK is now halfway to Net Zero emissions." ... "Final emissions for 2024 were 415 MtCO2e including IAS, which is 49% below 1990 levels.”

Earlier in July, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published Carbon footprint for the UK and England to 2023 [3], setting out the latest calculations for the UK's consumption emissions [4]. This shows that our carbon footprint has also fallen in recent years. In 2023, emissions by this wider measure are 15% lower than they were in 1996, and 29% lower than their peak in 2007. 

Notes to editors:

1. BBC iPlayer - Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002z8c1/sunday-with-laura-kuenssberg-what-can-we-expect-from-andy-burnham 

2. Climate Change Committee: https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/progress-in-reducing-emissions-2026-report-to-parliament/#section-20-1-1-uk-territorial-emissions

3. DEFRA: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uks-carbon-footprint/carbon-footprint-for-the-uk-and-england-to-2023

4. DEFRA, in the publication at [3], define consumption emissions - or the UK's carbon footprint - as: "emissions associated with the consumption of goods and services by UK or England residents, including emissions that occur overseas in supply chains and emissions generated directly by households from the use of fossil fuels for heating and private vehicles."

For more information or for interview requests:

George Smeeton, Head of Communications, ECIU, Tel: 07894 571 153, email: george.smeeton@eciu.net