Carbon data for journalists

Official figures for stories about carbon and energy: UK government emission factors for every year from 2002 to 2026, electricity factors for 194 countries, the SECR thresholds, Climate Change Levy rates and the UK CBAM dates. Each comes with its source, its licence and a citation you can copy.

Checked against the sources on 21 October 2026. Press enquiries: press page.

Source: <a href="https://carbonrecycling.co.uk/press/data">Carbon Recycling</a>, using UK government conversion factors (DESNZ, OGL v3.0).

Fact finder: look up any figure

Search 110 UK activities and electricity in 193 countries (310 figures in all), pick a year, and copy the figure with its source in one click. Each search shows up to 10 figures, and each figure links to a page with the full series and how it was worked out.

Source:via Carbon Recyclingkg CO2e

UK figures are the direct factor as DESNZ publishes it; country figures are lifecycle grid intensity from Ember unless marked as the government's own.

Key figures

• UK grid electricity is 0.13096 kg CO2e per kWh in the government's 2026 factors, 26% lower than 2025 (0.17700 kg) and 71% lower than 2002 (0.44914 kg).
• A litre of diesel is 2.5835 kg CO2e and a litre of petrol 2.0750 kg in 2026.
• An average car is 0.26699 kg CO2e a mile; a battery electric car 0.043220 kg a mile, including the power stations' emissions.
• A UK hotel room is 10.400 kg CO2e a night; a short-haul flight 0.12786 kg per passenger km, with the effect of high-altitude emissions included.

UK figures: DESNZ greenhouse gas reporting conversion factors, the direct (Scope 1 or 2, or the activity's own) factor in kg CO2e, as the government publishes them each June.

UK emission factors by year

The UK government's conversion factors are the figures UK businesses use to turn activity into emissions. Each row links to a page with every year and a worked example. Full sets start in 2012; for 2002 to 2011 the government republished electricity and heat only, and the other figures come from the Defra guidelines published at the time.

Every year of UK grid electricity: UK electricity emission factors. Every factor: UK emission factors (110 activities). Download: UK emission factors, every year (CSV) (sign in or start a free trial first).

Electricity emission factors by country

For electricity outside the UK we hold Ember's yearly figures for 193 countries from 2000 to 2025, and the government's own figure where a country publishes one. Ember's figures are lifecycle grid intensity; government figures follow each country's own method, so compare a country with itself over time rather than across sources.

Official government figures

Every country, every year: electricity emission factors by country, or try the electricity CO2e calculator. Download: electricity factors by country and year (CSV) (sign in or start a free trial first). Country pages with local prices and report formats: carbon reporting in every country.

SECR: who has to report

Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) applies to quoted companies, and to large unquoted companies and large LLPs. A company or LLP is large if it meets at least two of these in a financial year:

• more than 250 employees
• turnover over £36 million
• a balance sheet over £18 million

A large company that used 40,000 kWh of energy or less in the year can say so instead of reporting the figures. The April 2025 rise in the Companies Act size thresholds does not change who reports under SECR. Source: The Companies (Directors' Report) and Limited Liability Partnerships (Energy and Carbon Report) Regulations 2018. Check a company: do I need SECR?

Climate Change Levy rates and reliefs

• No levy on supplies of up to 1,000 kWh of electricity or 4,397 kWh of gas a month, per premises and supplier.
• No levy on a supply if at least 60% of it is for homes or a charity's non-business use.
• Energy used in metallurgical and mineralogical processes is exempt.
• Sites in a Climate Change Agreement pay 92% less on electricity and 89% less on gas.
• Levy charged in error can be reclaimed for up to 4 years.

Sources: HMRC, Climate Change Levy rates; HMRC Excise Notice CCL1/3; Finance Act 2021, section 109. Check a site: Climate Change Levy check.

UK CBAM: the dates

It covers imports of aluminium, cement, fertiliser, hydrogen, iron and steel goods, once an importer reaches £50,000 of them in 12 months. Sources: HMRC and HM Treasury, CBAM policy summary and guidance. Check a business: do I need to register for CBAM?

Sources, licences and credit lines

Every figure on this page comes from one of these datasets. Before we use a dataset we save a dated copy of its licence and record what it allows; see data sources and licences for the full register.

Not on this page: live grid carbon intensity from the National Energy System Operator, whose terms don't let us pass the data on, and any customer's own data, which we never publish.

None of these publishers endorses Carbon Recycling or this page. The figures are given as published, without warranty; check the original before relying on one.