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UK average greenhouse gas emissions

The UK average CO2 emissions are about 9.5 tonnes CO2 per person per year.
This is about double the world average.
The UK Government quotes a much smaller figure of about 4.5 tonnes CO2 per person per year by excluding imports/exports, aviation and shipping in the calculations. This misleading reporting is much criticised.
The UK total has fallen little since 1990.
Including all greenhouse gases, the UK average emissions are about 13 tonnes CO2 equivalent per person per year.

UK total emissions

The chart shows the importance of including imports and exports in the UK's total emissions. It is taken from the annual report of the UK Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) [1] (Figure 1, with editing).

The lower (blue) line shows the total greenhouse gas emissions that are released within the UK (known as the "territorial emissions"). The upper (green) line shows the total once emissions generated in the manufacture of imports and exports are taken into account, i.e. adding emissions generating in the manufacture of imports and subtracting emissions generated in the manufacture of exports. The figures that the UK Government quotes are generally the lower figures, which treat imports as if they are zero carbon. This is much criticised as being misleading or deliberately deceitful - see document 111. Why should Dutch cheese, a German washing machine or a Vietnamese pair of jeans be treated as zero carbon, and the associated CO2 emissions be treated as not the UK's responsibility?

It can be seen that the UK total of consumption emissions has fallen little since 1990. The fall is even less once the increase in aviation emissions is taken into account.

UK average CO2 emissions: about 9.5 tonnes CO2 per person per year

The table shows the steps in calculating the UK's CO2 emissions per person - emissions from shipping are relatively small and not shown here.

Table: Annual figures with sources
QuantityFigureSource
1. Take the UK's total CO2 emissions - including imports/exports, but excluding aviation560 million tonnes CO2 UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) [2]
2. Take the UK population 67 millionUK Office for National Statistics (ONS) [3]
3. Divide 1. by 2. to give UK CO2 emissions per person excluding aviation560 ÷ 67 = 8.4 tonnes CO2 per person
4. Take UK aviation CO2 emissions per person 1.1 tonnes CO2 per person Our World in Data [4]
5. Add 3. and 4. to give UK CO2 emissions per person8.4 + 1.1 = 9.5 tonnes CO2 per person

So, the UK average CO2 emissions including imports/exports and aviation are about 9.5 tonnes CO2 per person per year.

The world's total CO2 emissions are about 38 billion tonnes CO2 per year [5], which is 4.7 tonnes CO2 per year for each of the 8.1 billion global population.

So the UK's average of 9.5 tonnes CO2 per person per year is about double the world average.

The UK government quotes a much small figure for CO2 emissions

The figure that the UK Government quotes for CO2 emissions is a total of 304 million tonnes CO2 per year [6], which is 4.5 tonnes CO2 per person per year for the 67 million population. It does this by excluding imports/exports, aviation and shipping in the calculations. This misleading reporting is much criticised.

UK average emissions including all greenhouse gases

The UK's total greenhouse gas emissions including imports/exports is 740 million tonnes CO2 equivalent per year [2], which is 11.0 tonnes CO2 equivalent per year averaged for the 67 million million inhabitants.

Adding UK aviation emissions (1.1 tonnes CO2 per person per year) gives a total of 12 tonnes CO2 equivalent per person per year.


References and notes

[1]Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (2025) 2023 UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Final Figures https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67a30e4f7da1f1ac64e5feb1/2023-final-greenhouse-gas-emissions-statistical-release.pdf (accessed 19 May 2025)
[2]DEFRA (2025) UK Footprint Results (1990 - 2022) Web page: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uks-carbon-footprint/carbon-footprint-for-the-uk-and-england-to-2022, Spreadsheet: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68220f6dd9c9bb76078f7f5f/Defra22_results_UK.ods (sheet 3) (accessed 18 Aug 2025)
[3]Great Britain population mid-year estimates (figure for 2024) Office for National Statistics https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/timeseries/gbpop/pop (accessed 17 Oct 2025)
[4]Our world in data (2025) Where in the world do people have the highest CO2 emissions from flying? https://ourworldindata.org/carbon-footprint-flying (accessed 13 Feb 2026) taking the figure of 1.1 tonnes for 2024 from the section: Per capita emissions from international flights - adjusted for tourism. The data sources are: OECD (2025); UN Tourism (2025); Population based on various sources (2024) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
[5]Our World in data (2024) CO₂ emissions https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions (accessed 14 Feb 2026)
[6]Source [1] gives 79% of a total of 385 million tonnes, i.e. 304 million tonnes per year.


First published: 2008
Last updated: 17 Feb 2026     Page No: 23