The UK Gov Carbon Factor for Electricity has increased 7.1% (first increase in over a decade!)
2022 kgCO2e per kWh = 0.193380
2023 kgCO2e per kWh = 0.207070
This is starting to give Sustainability Professionals a headache, because the 7.1% Factor increase is wiping out the emissions reductions they have worked so hard to achieve.
What most people don't know is the UK Electricity Factors are 2 years out of date! The 2023 Factor is actually based on UK Power Stations emissions in 2021 (the year the Global Energy Crisis started).
Wouldn't it be great if you could use a Carbon Factor that more accurately reflects your true, real time emissions?
Well, the good news is you can, and it is actually recommended by both the UK Gov and the GHG Protocol, specifically:-
Where available, half hourly grid emission factors should be used
in order to accurately reflect the timing and carbon-intensity of consumption
To test this method we calculated the March 2023 UK footprint of a leading multinational manufacturer. The results were significantly better than we expected:-
Electricity consumption (Mar 2023) | 112,967 kWh |
UK Grid emissions | 23.4 tCO2e |
Actual HH emissions | 18.6 tCO2e |
2023 Avg Grid factor | 0.207 kgCO2e / kWh |
Actual HH factor | 0.165 kgCO2e / kWh |
Difference | 26% |
Calculating this organisations emissions using the 2023 UK Grid Factor would be 26% higher than actual HH carbon emissions!
If you would like to see the real world impact on your carbon footprint, simply email a sample of your HH meter readings to hhdata@carbonsaver.org.
Our experts will calculate your Half Hourly Emissions and send you a FREE report so you can see the difference for yourself.