Take the carbon out of energy: Most carbon dioxide comes from burning fossil fuels for electricity, transport, heat and industry. Decarbonization tackles that source directly.
The points to remember
- Decarbonization: reducing or ending the use of energy sources that release carbon dioxide.
- Those sources are the fossil fuels: coal (the most CO2 per unit of energy), oil and gas.
- They are replaced with renewable energy: solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, tidal.
- Electricity is usually cleaned up first, because power stations are few and large.
- Using less energy (efficiency, insulation) makes the switch faster and cheaper.
Remember it as: Out with coal, oil and gas; in with sun, wind and water.
Real example: in 2012 coal made 39% of the UK's electricity. Wind farms, solar panels and gas replaced it, and on 30 September 2024 the last coal power station, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, shut down. The UK was the first G7 country to end coal power.
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Clean electricity is only half the job. The other half is making cars, heating and factories run on that electricity instead of on fuel.
Electrification
- Electrification: switching machines from burning fuel to running on electricity.
- Cars and buses become electric vehicles; gas boilers become heat pumps.
- Steelworks can use electric arc furnaces instead of coal-fired blast furnaces.
- It cuts emissions only if the electricity is clean: an electric car charged from coal still pollutes.
- Electric motors waste less energy than engines, so less energy is needed overall.
Electric, clean grid
- Charged from wind, sun, water
- Almost no CO2 in use
- Efficient motor
Electric, coal grid
- Charged from coal power
- CO2 released at the power station
- Smaller saving
Real example: by the end of 2017 Shenzhen, a city of over 17 million people in China, had replaced all of its 16,359 buses with electric ones, the first city in the world to do so. The switch saves an estimated 1.35 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
Electric is not always clean: Say where the electricity comes from. An electric bus in a country that burns coal for power still causes carbon dioxide emissions, just at the power station.
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Balance the books: Some emissions are very hard to stop, such as those from planes and cement. So the goal is carbon neutrality, not zero.
Carbon neutral, and by when?
- Carbon neutral (net zero): the CO2 released is balanced by the CO2 removed.
- Removal comes from sinks (forests, soils) or carbon capture; offsets pay for removal elsewhere.
- Carbon negative: more removed than released, e.g. Bhutan, Suriname, Panama.
- States set different dates: Finland 2035, Germany 2045, the UK and EU 2050, China 2060, India 2070.
- Dates differ with wealth, energy mix, fossil-fuel jobs and development needs.
- A target is stronger when written into law, weaker as a pledge with no plan.
Real example: in 2019 the UK changed its Climate Change Act to require net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the first major economy to put net zero into law. A law means every future government must plan for it.
Governments rarely ban fossil fuels outright. They make carbon expensive, make clean energy cheap, and set dates.
How countries drive decarbonization
- A carbon tax: a charge per tonne of CO2, so fossil fuels cost more.
- An emissions trading scheme (cap and trade): a cap on total emissions, split into permits.
- Firms that cut sell spare permits; those that pollute must buy more; forests can earn credits.
- Subsidies make renewables and electric vehicles cheaper; phase-out dates end coal and petrol cars.
- Barriers: cost, jobs in coal regions, and wind and sun that vary (storage needed).
Real example: New Zealand's emissions trading scheme began in 2008. The government limits the total emissions allowed and lowers the limit over time; industries pay for each unit they emit, and forests that absorb carbon earn credits that can be sold to emitters.
Why trading can work
- A price on every tonne
- Cap falls over time
- Forests rewarded
Why it can fail
- Buying permits is cheaper than changing
- Firms plant trees but keep polluting
- Cap set too high, fines too low
- Firms move abroad: jobs lost
Disadvantages that score nothing: Vague answers such as 'it is expensive', 'it limits economic growth', 'rich companies keep polluting' or 'it does not reduce CO2' do not count. Say why: buying permits is cheaper than switching to cleaner technology.
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How this comes up: Paper 1, the final question: a 6-mark judgement of a country, using the resource booklet.
The UK aims to reach net zero by 2050. Coal fell from 39% of its electricity in 2012 to 1% in 2023, and the last coal power station closed in 2024. Transport is now its largest source of emissions, and most homes are heated by gas boilers.
To what extent is the UK decarbonizing its economy?
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