UK greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have shown a 1% downturn from 2024 based on UK residents and UK registered businesses, in a positive outlook towards the 2030 Clean Power goal.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) data did however find household emissions have registered another increase from 2024 – having risen by nearly 1.0% in 2025, to 125 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2e) from 124 Mt CO2e in 2024. This was led by a 2.6% rise in consumer travel emissions.
Manufacturing saw the largest emissions decrease among industries, while consumer expenditure remained the largest single contributor to UK emissions at 26.5% of the 2025 UK total, followed by the transport sector at 16.4%.
Diane Crowe, Group Sustainability Director at Reconomy, an international circular economy specialist, said: “Today’s figures show continued progress in reducing the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in manufacturing, but the rise in household emissions is a reminder that consumption remains a significant challenge.
“The UK economy continues to operate in a largely linear way – extracting new materials to meet demand, with too little emphasis on reuse, recycling and resource efficiency. This circularity gap places unsustainable pressure on the Earth’s ecosystems, with the extraction and processing of materials alone responsible for around half of global greenhouse gas emissions. Closing this gap and reducing material consumption are therefore critical to tackling the interconnected challenges of climate change, nature loss and pollution.”
With COP31 and net zero targets on the horizon, it is now a race against time to further decrease GHG emissions before the deadline clocks run out.
Copyright © 2026 Energy Live News LtdELN