Facts4EU exposes the real, hidden truth behind the UK’s Net Zero ‘triumph’
Proof our governments have ‘offshored’ our jobs and imported dirty goods
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2025
The new Labour Government seems happy to play along with this deception of the British people
In our last report we set out the official figures for the UK’s reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over the last 20 years and compared this with the rest of the world’s major economies, after adjusting for population size. The UK came out of this very well, coming top amongst all major economies.
However – and it’s a big ‘however’ – what happens if we recalculate based on what we would refer to as ‘the substitution factor’? Part of the truth behind the official figures is that the government’s Net Zero policies have simply replaced UK jobs with foreign ones. They have reduced our ‘carbon footprint’ by replacing our goods with imported goods and raw materials sourced overseas using 'dirty' energy – none of which appear in the UK’s carbon footprint.
Energy embedded in traded goods as a share of domestic energy
‘Net energy embedded in traded goods’ gives an indication of the extra carbon footprint of a country as a result of the goods it is importing.
If goods are produced in our own country then the energy consumed in making them is reported in the UK’s data. If, however, we buy goods from overseas then the energy consumed in making these is included in the foreign country’s accounts of energy usage and is missing from the UK’s figures.
If a country buys more and more from overseas, its own energy usage appears to be low but in reality all it is doing is offshoring its greenhouse gas effects and flattering its own performance.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
The invisible carbon footprint the UK is buying in
Comparing the UK with the G7 plus China, India, and Russia
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2025 - click to enlarge
[Data sources: Calculated by Viktoras Kulionis, based on the EXIOBASE v3.8.2 database, processed by Our World in Data, Oxford University.]
How this affects our true energy use – It’s significantly higher
Charts about Net Zero and a country’s usage of energy are normally presented showing what is called ‘production-based’ rather than ‘consumption-based’ energy. The problem here is that ‘production-based’ does not include the energy component of what is produced in another country.
Below we show what happens when we add back in the energy use required in making and supplying the net imports of products into the UK. In short, when an economy relies to a significant degree on imports – which is increasingly the case in the UK – so the consumption-based energy usage rises. This is exactly what we see in the chart below which we have produced from the latest available data.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
UK’s ‘production-based’ versus ‘consumption-based’ energy use, 2020
- Production-based energy use : 2,468 terawatt hours
- Consumption-based energy use: 3,111 terawatt hours
Extra usage : 643 terawatt hours, equating to a 26.1% increase on what is normally declared
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2025 - click to enlarge
[Sources : Calculated by Viktoras Kulionis, based on the EXIOBASE v3.8.2 database, processed by OWID, latest figures available.]
‘Climate Science’ Health Warning
- Q: When is science not science at all?
- A: When it stops asking questions
In this short series we are using the ‘accepted science’ view of the whole climate and Net Zero debate. The data we have analysed and summarised is used by a majority of academics who believe in a particular view. This view is not shared by a minority of scientists, however. The Facts4EU.Org team make no claims of being qualified to judge highly technical information, but we do tend to get worried in any field of our research when we see one thing.
When debate on any topic is shut down, we get decidedly uncomfortable. In the case of Net Zero, this has happened to a degree where any concept of science as a journey of continual discovery not only disappears, the whole premise behind science itself is negated. History teaches us that if we stop questioning, we stop learning. And if we stop learning, what happens to the whole concept of progress?
“From Here to Neternity” – Labour’s plans for Net Zero
The Labour Government has of course inherited legislation passed under Conservative governments in recent years. We already have Acts of Parliament which have put some very serious environmental targets into law. Unlike manifesto promises, these are not there to be broken. Naturally Sir Keir Starmer’s Government is also laying out its own agenda to add to what is there.
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Currently the UK is committed to reaching ‘Net Zero’ by 2050. This means the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions by that date will equal the emissions removed from the atmosphere. There are also interim targets to be met before 2050.
After Labour won the 2024 general election, a number of new pieces of proposed legislation were announced :-
1. The Great British Energy Bill, which set up a publicly-owned company designed to advance investment in renewables
This is now at the report stage in the House of Lords. £25 million was pledged to establish the company, with a further £100 million of capital funding to spend in 2025/26.
2. The Crown Estate Bill, removing certain restrictions to encourage investment in renewables. This is currently at the committee stage in the Commons.
3. The Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Mandate officially came into force on 01 January this year (2025), to subsidise the development of cleaner fuels. By law, ‘sustainable fuel’ must now make up at least 2% of all jet fuel in flights taking off from the UK from 2025, growing year-on-year to 10% by 2030 and to 22% by 2040.
There are also a whole raft of other areas on which Sir Keir and Ed Milliband plan to legislate. These may include home insulation, nature and biodiversity, land management, and water.
Observations
The UK – From ‘Net Hero’ to ‘Net Zero’
To some degree, it seems the British people are only now beginning to become aware of the ramifications of some of the Net Zero legislation. This is perhaps not surprising. When laws refer to targets being met by 2050, there is an apparent remoteness to the date and it has therefore not assumed the status of being an upcoming reality.
A country’s energy footprint should encompass :
- Its full use of energy in its power generation
- The energy involved in extracting raw materials it uses in manufacturing
- The energy involved in making and supplying the goods which people buy
In reality the headline figures do not show this
In yesterday’s report we used the widely-accepted statistics in the scientific community and produced an analysis which showed the UK’s stellar performance in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions over the last 20 years – so much so that the UK outshone every other major economy in the World.
In today’s report we have brought readers facts which show the UK’s success story is not all it seems. If what we are doing is impoverishing our goods sector by substituting foreign products and raw materials in order to keep the carbon footprint of the United Kingdom looking good, then all of this is merely window dressing.
Worse still, for the British public and for business it has a direct impact on jobs, on the cost of living, and on vital matters such as our energy security as a country.
Coming in our next report…
In Brexit Facts4EU.Org’s follow-up report, we will review the government’s new plans to carpet a large part of the countryside with solar panels and wind turbines. This is now happening and the implications for our countryside will be very significant.
We will reveal what Ed Milliband has already started railroading though, without any debate in Parliament.
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[ Sources: Viktoras Kulionis, based on the EXIOBASE v3.8.2 database | Processed by OWID, Oxford Univ, Hannah Ritchie ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 06 Feb 2025
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