The UKs recent eco-friendly achievements need a second look. The International Energy Agency (IEA) puts Britain at the top spot for energy-efficiency progress‚ but theres more to this green-tinted story
British energy use dropped by 9% in the 2010s (while the economy grew 19%) which looks good on paper. The oil consumption went down from 151m to 125m tonnes and gas use fell 17% last year – but lets look at the real reasons
Home-owners and businesses used way less power last year: households cut back 21% and office buildings 15%. The IEA points out a simple fact – it was just warmer outside so people didnt need their heating (which is the main power-user in UK homes)
The industrial side shows an interesting pattern – factory shut-downs played a big part. Energy-heavy industries now use half the power they did about 15 years ago. While some changes were good like switching from coal to wind-power many factories just closed down
Hereʼs the not-so-green part: Britain now buys lots of stuff from other countries instead of making it here. Research from Leeds University shows that CO2 from making UK imports doubled since the 90s reaching 400m tonnes yearly. These numbers dont show up in UKʼs official stats; meaning our carbon footprint isnt really smaller – its just moved somewhere else