Britain’s greenest year yet but new technologies still needed to hit climate targets

Independent analysis conducted by academics from Imperial College London for Drax Electric Insights, via Imperial Consultants, shows the UK will require a range of new green technologies, which complement renewables like wind and solar, as part of its efforts to meet its national climate goals.

Whilst power from renewables overtook fossil fuels for the first time in 2020 – and carbon emissions fell by 16 per cent year-on-year, this was in a large part due to reduced demand caused by Covid lockdowns, when gas and coal power stations were turned down.

Wind and solar generated 30 per cent of Britain’s electricity in 2020 – around half the share required by 2025 for the UK to reach its climate targets according to the Climate Change Committee (CCC).

The Electric Insights report shows that achieving the CCC’s targets will also require a range of other technologies, such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and nuclear.

Dr Iain Staffell, lead author of the quarterly Electric Insights report, said: “The next steps we must take towards a net zero power system will be more challenging – driving out the last sources of fossil carbon will require us to go beyond just having more wind and solar power. New business models, backed by policy and investment, will be needed to bring advanced-but-proven technologies into the mainstream.”

Read: Pandemic sees UK economy shrink at fastest rate since 1921

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