Grid growth plan: £58bn and 48,000 jobs, and why your Scope 2 keeps falling

On 20 October 2026 the Energy Networks Association and BEAMA published the Electricity Networks Sector Growth Plan, saying grid upgrades will add £58bn of value to the UK economy and create as many as 48,000 jobs by 2035. For a small business, the carbon point is that a bigger grid connects more renewable power, which keeps pushing the UK electricity factor down: the same 50,000 kWh is 68% lower in tonnes on the 2026 factor than on the 2016 one.

Updated 20 October 2026 by the Carbon Recycling team. Figures use the official UK government conversion factors and are checked against the current gov.uk guidance.

What happened

The Energy Networks Association (ENA), the trade body for Britain's network operators, and BEAMA, the trade body for electrical equipment makers, published the full Electricity Networks Sector Growth Plan on 20 October 2026. It follows an interim report in December 2025. Energy Live News reported it the same day; we checked the figures below against BEAMA's own release and the plan's website.

£58bn of gross value added for the UK economy by 2035.
As many as 48,000 jobs being created across network companies and their supply chain, in a total workforce of 210,000 by 2035.
72p of every £1 invested benefiting regions and local communities. The plan's website calls this an ambition ("up to 72p").
A new Growth Partnership, overseen by an independent chair, with sub-groups on supply chains and skills to deliver the plan.

The release says network operators and their supply chain are set to invest up to £200bn over the next ten years; the plan's website gives £181bn of investment in GB electricity networks by 2035. Akshay Kaul, Director General for Infrastructure at Ofgem, welcomed the plan, saying the focus "must be on turning that ambition into delivery".

Why it matters for your carbon report

The plan is about jobs and factories, but the reason the money is being spent is to connect more clean power. The plan's website says it will enable 46GW of offshore wind and 40GW of solar to be connected by 2035. As more of that reaches the grid, the government's UK electricity factor, which turns your kWh into Scope 2 emissions, keeps falling. Our post on why the UK grid gets cleaner every year shows every year's factor.

To see the effect, take an illustrative business using the same 50,000 kWh of grid electricity every year. With the 2016 government factor of 0.41205 kg CO2e per kWh, that is 20.60 tonnes CO2e. With the 2026 factor of 0.13096, it is 6.55 tonnes, about 68% lower. Nobody switched anything off. (These are the generation figures; transmission and distribution losses are reported separately under Scope 3.)

What to do now

Report location-based Scope 2 every year, using each year's own factor. It is the figure that tracks the grid. If you buy a green tariff, report market-based as well, as the GHG Protocol's Scope 2 Guidance asks; our post on location-based vs market-based explains the difference, and market-based Scope 2 with the UK residual mix covers the factor for customers without a green tariff.
Report your kWh too. Companies in scope of SECR must already report energy use in kWh. For everyone else it is the honest way to show whether a lower carbon figure came from you or from the grid.
Build your target on actions. A reduction plan that relies on the grid factor falling is a forecast, not a plan. Base it on things you control: less electricity used, gas heating replaced, vehicles electrified. If a big factor change makes your baseline look odd, read when to restate a baseline.
If you plan on-site solar, a battery or EV chargers, see how they change your figures in rooftop solar and your Scope 2 and counting EV charging.

How Carbon Recycling helps

Carbon Recycling applies the right year's DESNZ factor to every electricity entry automatically and shows the factor's year and value on each line, so you can see whether a change came from your use or from the grid. It reports Scope 2 both location-based and market-based, and the SECR report lists your energy use in kWh beside your emissions. Its Carbon Reduction Plan tracks each year against the target you set from your baseline. To compare your own kWh across years, try the free kWh to CO2e calculator or the UK electricity factor page.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Electricity Networks Sector Growth Plan?

A plan from the Energy Networks Association (ENA) and BEAMA, published on 20 October 2026, setting out how investment in Britain's electricity networks to 2035 can be turned into UK jobs, manufacturing and economic value. It says the upgrades will generate £58bn of gross value added, with as many as 48,000 jobs being created in a total workforce of 210,000 by 2035.

Does grid investment change my carbon footprint?

Not directly, but it changes the factor you use. Location-based Scope 2 is your kWh times the government's UK grid factor, and that factor falls as more low-carbon generation connects. On our numbers, 50,000 kWh gives 20.60 tonnes with the 2016 factor and 6.55 tonnes with the 2026 factor, with no change in use.

If my Scope 2 falls on its own, can I count that towards my target?

You can report it, but don't let it carry your target. Show your kWh alongside your tonnes so a reader can see how much of the fall came from the grid and how much from what you did. A plan built on actions, such as using less electricity, still delivers if the grid factor stalls or rises in a single year.

Which figures in the plan are confirmed?

We checked the figures in this post against BEAMA's release and the plan's own website. One difference: the release says operators and their supply chain will invest up to £200bn over the next ten years, while the plan's website gives £181bn of investment in GB networks by 2035. The website also describes 72p in every £1 as an ambition ("up to"), where the release says it will directly benefit regions and local communities.

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