United Kingdom · Carbon Intensity of Electricity

## What this measures

The greenhouse gases emitted for each kilowatt-hour of electricity generated in the United Kingdom, in grams of CO2-equivalent per kWh, one value per calendar year, dated December 31. Ember divides power-sector emissions by total generation, using life-cycle emission factors for each fuel.

## Why it matters

It is the single number for how clean a grid is. It decides how much an electric car, a heat pump or a data centre actually emits where it is plugged in.

## How to read it

Lower is cleaner. Coal-heavy grids run highest; grids built on hydro and nuclear run lowest.

## What it does not say

It covers generation in the place, not the electricity it imports. Life-cycle factors mean even wind and solar carry a small value.

## Source

Ember, electricity data (ember-energy.org/data), CC BY 4.0. Attribution: "Ember (CC BY 4.0)". Ember compiles national statistics, EIA, Eurostat, the UN and other primary sources into one consistent dataset and fills recent periods from monthly data. Palanor re-reads Ember's public CSV on every run, because Ember revises back data as official statistics land.