Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra); data produced by the University of Leeds
UK and England's carbon footprint to 2023
The UK's carbon footprint: greenhouse gas emissions caused by what UK residents, government and businesses' capital investment consume, wherever in the world the emissions happen, plus households' own emissions from heating homes and driving. In thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (and tonnes per person for the total), 1990-2023, split by final demand, by household product (34 COICOP groups) and, for 2023, by broad category of end use. Estimated by the University of Leeds with a multi-regional input-output model; 1990-1996 are more uncertain, and every annual release revises earlier years. Flights have no separate figure. UK only.
Numbers published from it
Licence and credit
- What the terms say
“This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence 3.0.”
From the producer's terms, checked 2026-10-05 by a person (the page blocks automated checks).
- Credit we give
- Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, UK and England's carbon footprint to 2023 ({version}), data produced by the University of Leeds. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Copy of the raw file
- Allowed: we keep a public copy of every version we use.
- Cite as
- Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (2026). UK and England's carbon footprint to 2023: Carbon footprint for the UK dataset, 1990 to 2023 ({version}). GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uks-carbon-footprint
Files
"Carbon footprint for the UK dataset, 1990 to 2023", an OpenDocument spreadsheet (a zip package). Sheets used: Cover_sheet (licence, notes), Summary_1990_to_2023 (greenhouse gases in ktCO2e and in tCO2e per capita), Summary_product (household emissions by 34 COICOP product groups, ktCO2e) and Summary_2023 (Table 3, 2023 emissions by 14 broad categories of end use, ktCO2e). 98,019 bytes on 2026-10-05.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a3ce5c930b491f55b3c494c/UK_carbon_footprint_dataset_1990_to_2023.ods"Carbon footprint for the UK and England to 2023: Figures and tables dataset", an OpenDocument spreadsheet (a zip package) with the data behind the statistical release's figures and tables (for example Table_2: 11 broad household categories for 1996, 2022 and 2023). 36,646 bytes on 2026-10-05.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a3ce5ee33bc5beefd3c4981/carbon_footprint_for_the_UK_and_England_to_2023_figures_and_tables_dataset.ods"UK and England's Carbon Footprint: Summary of Methods 2026", listed on the release page as "UK consumption account methodology" (PDF). Read for the global warming potentials the footprint uses (IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, AR5). 1,032,209 bytes on 2026-10-05.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a3ce626eaee00074150f449/UK_and_England_s_Carbon_Footprint_Summary_of_Methods_2026.pdf
Status
- Programme
- Official statistics published by Defra each year; the release to 2023 came out on 30 June 2026 (corrected on 7 and 24 July 2026). Each annual update revises earlier years (the 2026 release switched trade data to FIGARO v2025 from 2010), so every vintage is kept as its own snapshot. UK Government statistics, not exposed to US federal cuts.
- Updates
- Annual, usually in May or June; earlier years are revised in every release
- Last check
- Fetched (2026-10-05T14:50:51Z)