The average percentage of the UK’s energy from renewables increased from 10.7% in 2014 to 40.6% in 2024, while the percentage of the UK’s energy from fossil fuels declined.
Energy is the backbone of the UK’s economy; sectors relying on energy include industrial, residential, transportation, agriculture, commercial, services, and others. Energy sources to supply these sectors are fossil fuel (gas, oil, and coal), renewable energy sources (wind power, plant biomass, solar power, heat pumps, and hydropower), nuclear energy, and other low-carbon sources like waste-to-energy.
The UK’s “Net Zero Strategy” aims to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions across the British economy by 2050. One of the main points of the strategy—regarding electricity generation—is to shift to 100% zero-carbon emission sources by 2035 through renewable energy sources that are non-depletable when used but are replenished naturally.
According to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero, the percentage of renewable energy in the UK’s energy mix has grown significantly over the last ten years, while that of fossil fuels is declining. This is a step in the right direction since burning fossil fuels is the main contributor to GHG emissions, the main cause of climate change.
The National Grid data publication (in April 2024) shows that the average percentage of the UK’s energy from renewables increased from 10.7% in 2014 to 40.6% in 2024. Meanwhile, the percentage of the UK’s energy from fossil fuels declined from 58.1% in 2014 to 31.1% in 2024 (based on 12-month averages from May to April of the following year).
Table 1: Percentage of UK’s Energy mix – Renewables & Fossil Fuel.
| Renewables | Fossil Fuels | |
| 2014 | 10.7 | 58.1 |
| 2015 | 14.2 | 50.8 |
| 2016 | 14.5 | 49.9 |
| 2017 | 20.3 | 44.7 |
| 2018 | 27.6 | 42.4 |
| 2019 | 31.5 | 40.1 |
| 2020 | 37.5 | 35.1 |
| 2021 | 33.7 | 38.6 |
| 2022 | 37.5 | 39.7 |
| 2023 | 39.5 | 32.2 |
| 2024 | 40.6 | 31.1 |
The Climate Change Committee (CCC) reported in March 2023 that, for renewable energies to play their part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the UK to zero by 2050, there is a need for a big increase in renewables capacity (particularly wind and solar). Renewables need to be backed up by battery storage to help manage the variation in generated renewable energy, storing surplus electricity when wind and solar power are plentiful and releasing it when there is a shortfall.
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy published the policy paper “The British Energy Security Strategy” in 2022. The paper mentioned that the government plans to increase wind energy capacity from 11GW to 50GW by 2030 (making offshore and onshore wind the biggest renewable energy source in the UK) and solar energy capacity from 14GW to 70GW by 2035. If achieved, the UK’s electricity system will be fully decarbonized by 2035.
The Scottish Government has supported bioenergy development in Scotland for over a decade. The Scottish Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) is implementing several recommendations from its Wood Fuel Task Force (WFTF) to increase the wood supply for renewable energy production. The FCS is delivering the Scottish Government’s Scottish Biomass Support Scheme and running the Scottish Biomass Heat Scheme, targeted at biomass heating for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). However, the WFTF concluded that there is no spare capacity to support large-scale electricity generation biomass plants from the domestic wood fiber resource.
In the UK, biogas is primarily produced via Anaerobic Digestion (AD); biogas can be upgraded to biomethane and injected into the gas grid supported through the Green Gas Support Scheme (GGSS, 2021) to replace fossil fuel methane directly. According to the Department For Energy Security & Net-Zero (Future Framework Policy For Biogas Production, 2024), around 30 – 40 trillion watt hours (TWh) of biomethane production in 2050 would help the UK achieve net zero cost-effectively, based on utilizing feedstocks such as animal slurries, food waste and maize, sewage sludge and the upgrade of landfill gas.
In August 2021, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy presented the “UK Hydrogen Strategy” to parliament. This strategy sets out the UK’s whole-systems approach that can help the UK achieve its world-leading emissions reductions target, develop a hydrogen economy, and draw a road map on how the country will drive progress in the 2020s to meet the UK’s Sixth Carbon Budget (As Required Under The Climate Change Act) and net zero by 2050 commitments.
The government put in place a Ten-Point Plan outlining actions required—including new funds and policies—to set the UK on the pathway to delivering its 2030 ambition of 5GW of low-carbon hydrogen production (equivalent to the amount of gas consumed annually by over 3 million households in the UK). Allocated funds include £240 million for government co-investment in production capacity through the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund (NZHF).
Proposed UK electrolytic and CCUS-enabled hydrogen production projects
This Post was submitted by Climate Scorecard UK Country Manager Haga O. Mohamed.