Carbon Emissions: Imports
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to reduce emissions associated with goods and services imported into the UK.
Answered by Katie White
Evidence does not suggest the UK’s emissions reductions have been achieved principally through offshoring. The Climate Change Committee’s 2025 Progress Report stated that the UK’s reduction in territorial emissions from 1990 to 2022 significantly outweighed the increase in emissions from imports over the same period. The 2023 statistics continue this trend; in Defra’s latest statistical release the UK Carbon Footprint showed a 4% decrease between 2022 and 2023. Consumption-based emissions are now 29% lower than their peak in 2007.
The Government agrees we must ensure our climate policies do not drive offshoring of emissions as the UK economy decarbonises. In the Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan, we set out how our UK Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) and the forthcoming UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will guard against carbon leakage.
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