Residential homes driving greenhouse gas emissions across the UK

Research by property maintenance solution provider, Help me Fix, has revealed that residential properties have seen the highest average annual increase in greenhouse gas emissions over the last decade, with the average home now producing 2.29 tons of CO2 a year. 

Help me Fix analysed the level of greenhouse gas emissions emitted across the UK over the last 10 years, which sector is driving these emissions and how much the average home produces based on the number of dwellings across the UK. 

The research shows that, having increased by 2.9% between 2011 and 2012, the total level of greenhouse gases emitted across the UK had been in steady decline every year since. However, the latest data shows that over the last year (2020 to 2021 - latest available data), there has been a 4.7% increase in total greenhouse gas emissions - totalling 424.5m tonnes (CO2e). 

This increase was largely driven by the transport (+10%), public (+6.3%) and business sectors (+5.9%). However, it was the residential sector that saw the fourth largest increase, up 5.8% on an annual basis. 

At a total of 68.1m tonnes (CO2e), residential homes are the third largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions across the nation behind the transport and energy supply sectors. 

The analysis also shows that when analysing greenhouse emissions over the last decade, residential homes have seen the largest average annual increase at 0.3%, with the public sector the only other area to have seen an increase at an average of 0.1% per year.

With some 29.8m residential dwellings across the UK emitting 68.1m tonnes of CO2e in the last year, this means that the carbon footprint for the average home is currently an average of 2.29 tonnes per year - up from 2.18 the previous year. 

Ettan Bazil, CEO and Founder of Help me Fix said: 

“It may sound incredibly cliche, but the fight against climate change really does start at home, as it’s our homes that have seen the largest average annual increase in greenhouse gas emissions over the last decade - and that’s not including electricity, just the natural gas we consume. 

Not only are residential properties the third largest source of greenhouse gas, but they’ve also seen the fourth largest increase in the last year alone. This is largely down to the use of natural gas for heating and cooking and so there are plenty of things that can be done for very little cost in order to reduce your footprint. 

Batch cooking, or utilising alternative methods such as slow cookers or an air fryer is something we can all do very easily with a little forward planning. 

Ensuring our homes are energy efficient by investing in double glazing, reducing draft areas, installing insulation or smart metres and even adding a layer or two during the winter months can also help contribute. 

While these measures may seem small and perhaps insignificant in the grand scheme of things, if almost twenty eight million households put them in place, it would make a notable collective impact to our carbon footprint.

There are plenty of other ways that homeowners can look to reduce their carbon footprint in the modern world. For example, utilising tech to reduce the need for professional assistance within the home. 

Help me Fix does just that, allowing homeowners to access help and advice from trained tradespeople via video call, helping them to remedy, or at least identify the issue at hand. 

Not only does this save money on expensive call out costs, but we estimate that we reduce emissions in maintenance processes by up to 2.5kg per property per year, reducing the number of visits required by triaging issues remotely.”

Gov.uk data note on data included within the residential sector - The main source of emissions in this sector is the use of natural gas for heating and cooking. It should be noted that emissions from this sector do not include emissions from the generation of electricity consumed, as these emissions are included in the wider energy supply sector