DESNZ Release 2026 UK GHG Conversion Factors

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has released the 2026 UK Government Greenhouse Gas Conversion Factors for Company Reporting, providing the latest official dataset for calculating Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions from activity data such as fuel use, electricity consumption, and travel.

The 2026 update introduces several notable changes.

Most significantly, the UK electricity conversion factor has decreased by around 26%, reflecting both continued grid decarbonisation and a revised methodology that incorporates more recent data and reduces the historical reporting lag. This change means the latest factors reflect a greater degree of recent change than in previous annual updates.

The updated methodology also affects all electricity-related factors, including electric vehicles, rail and homeworking. Across transport, some plug‑in hybrid vehicle factors have decreased by around 5-6%. In contrast, others, including certain vans and heavy goods vehicles, have increased where new data shows higher real-world emissions.  Most fuel and bioenergy factors remain unchanged, reflecting stability in underlying methodologies.

The conversion factors continue to support UK reporting frameworks such as SECR and are widely used for organisational carbon footprinting, providing a consistent basis for year-on-year emissions reporting.

Circular Ecology welcome the new 2026 factors and encourages organisations to review the updated electricity factors and methodological changes, particularly where consistency with previous reporting years is required.

Explore the new conversion factors: Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2026