Why the UK grid gets cleaner every year

The UK government's grid electricity factor fell from 0.46002 kg CO2e per kWh in the 2012 set to 0.13096 in 2026, about 72% lower, as coal power closed and power stations burned less fossil fuel per unit generated. It doesn't fall every year, and the 2026 drop is partly a change in how DESNZ calculates it.

Updated 19 October 2026 by the Carbon Recycling team. Figures use the official UK government conversion factors and are checked against the current gov.uk guidance.

The numbers, year by year

Every June the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) publishes conversion factors for company reporting. The UK electricity factor is the average emissions per kWh of electricity supplied to the grid, and it is what turns your kWh into location-based Scope 2. Here is every set from 2012, when the current method began (Carbon Recycling also holds the older sets back to 2002, which cover electricity and heat only):

Factor set	Based on data for	Electricity, kg CO2e per kWh	Grid losses, kg per kWh	Natural gas, kg per kWh
2012	2010	0.46002	0.03634	0.18521
2013	2011	0.44548	0.03809	0.18404
2014	2012	0.49426	0.04322	0.18497
2015	2013	0.46219	0.03816	0.18445
2016	2014	0.41205	0.03727	0.184
2017	2015	0.35156	0.03287	0.18416
2018	2016	0.28307	0.02413	0.18396
2019	2017	0.2556	0.0217	0.18385
2020	2018	0.23314	0.02005	0.18387
2021	2019	0.21233	0.01879	0.18316
2022	2020	0.19338	0.01769	0.18254
2023	2021	0.20707	0.01792	0.18293
2024	2022	0.20705	0.0183	0.1829
2025	2023	0.177	0.01853	0.18296
2026	2025	0.13096	0.01299	0.18231

Gas is there for comparison. Natural gas is chemically the same every year, so its factor barely moves. Electricity depends on how it was generated, so it changes a lot. From the 2025 set, a kWh of grid electricity has a lower factor than a kWh of gas burned in your own boiler, which changes the maths on electric heating and vehicles.

Why it keeps falling

The factor is, in simple terms, the emissions from UK power stations divided by the electricity they put on the grid, with an adjustment for imports through the interconnectors to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Ireland. The DESNZ methodology paper shows power station CO2 roughly halving between the 2017 and 2025 data years, while the amount of electricity generated fell far less. Coal is a big part of the story: its use for power declined for a decade, and the last UK coal power station closed in September 2024.

DESNZ is clear that single years can still go the other way. The factor depends on the relative prices of coal and gas, peak demand and how much renewable generation there was that year. The 2014 set rose to 0.49426 from 0.44548, because it was built on 2012 data, a year when power station emissions went up.

Why the 2026 drop was so big

Until 2025, each set was built on data from two years earlier, because it relied on the national greenhouse gas inventory, which takes time to publish. For 2026, DESNZ switched to its quicker Energy Trends statistics and used 2025 data. The paper says this means no set is based on 2024 data. Two years of grid improvement arrived in one go, which is why the factor fell about 26% in a single year. Our post on why your footprint dropped in 2026 shows how to explain that in a report.

What it means for your footprint

An office uses the same 30,000 kWh of electricity every year:

With the 2012 factor: 30,000 × 0.46002 = 13.80 tonnes CO2e
With the 2026 factor: 30,000 × 0.13096 = 3.93 tonnes CO2e

Nothing changed in the office, yet reported Scope 2 fell by 9.87 tonnes. Three things follow:

Separate the grid from your own work. Report the lower figure, but say how much came from the factor. Buyers reading a Carbon Reduction Plan know the grid is getting cleaner.
Using less electricity still matters. Every kWh saved is real. It just saves fewer tonnes each year, so cutting gas and diesel often matters more now.
Switching from fuel to electricity looks better every year. Heat pumps and electric vans benefit from each fall in the grid factor.

Grid losses (the middle column) are Scope 3, not Scope 2. Our post on transmission and distribution losses explains them, and well-to-tank emissions covers the fuel supply chain behind the grid. The UK electricity factor page has the same figures with a calculator.

The annual factor and the live grid

The DESNZ factor is a yearly average for reporting. The grid's carbon intensity also changes hour by hour with the wind, the sun and demand. For reports, use the annual factor: it is what SECR, PPN 006 and the GHG Protocol's location-based method expect. For running the business, the live figure tells you when to charge vans or run heavy equipment.

How Carbon Recycling helps

Carbon Recycling applies the right year's DESNZ factor to each entry automatically, from 2002 to 2026, and shows the factor's ID, year and value on every line, so you can see whether a figure moved because of your use or the grid. The "UK grid now" page in the app shows live carbon intensity from the NESO Carbon Intensity API, including the cleanest three-hour window in the next 48 hours and the figure for your sites' regions, so you can move flexible loads such as EV charging into greener hours. To check your own bills against both years' factors, try the free kWh to CO2e calculator.

Frequently asked questions

How much has the UK grid emission factor fallen?

The government's UK electricity factor was 0.46002 kg CO2e per kWh in the 2012 set and 0.13096 in the 2026 set, about 72% lower. The same electricity bill now means roughly half the reported Scope 2 it did in 2012.

Does the grid factor ever go up?

Yes. The 2014 factor (0.49426) was higher than 2013's (0.44548), because it was based on 2012, when UK power stations emitted more than in 2011. The trend is down, but single years can move either way.

Why did the 2026 factor fall so much?

Two reasons. The grid kept getting cleaner, and DESNZ changed its method: the 2026 factor uses 2025 data, where earlier sets were two years behind. That is why it is about 26% below 2025's.

Should I recalculate earlier years with the new factor?

Normally no: each year keeps its own year's factor. DESNZ notes that some standards recommend a consistent time series after a big method change, and it publishes one in its methodology paper for anyone who wants to restate. Whichever you choose, say so in your report.

Which factor do I use for a year that runs April to March?

The set for the calendar year in which most of your reporting year falls. An April 2025 to March 2026 year uses the 2025 set.

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