Residential properties have seen large increases in greenhouse gas emissions over the last decade, with the average home now producing 2.29 tons of CO2 a year. 

That’s the claim by maintenance firm Help me Fix which analysed the level of greenhouse gas emissions emitted across the UK over the last decade. This shows that the total level of greenhouse gases emitted across the UK has been in steady decline since 2012 – until recently. 

From 2020 to 2021 – the latest available data – there was a 4.7 per cent increase in total greenhouse gas emissions. This increase was largely driven by the transport, public service and private business sectors but the residential housing sector saw the fourth largest increase, up 5.8 per cent on an annual basis. 

At a total of 68.1m tonnes 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 per cent with the public sector the only other area to have seen an increase at an average of 0.1 per cent 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, chief executive of Help me Fix, claims this rise is largely down to the use of natural gas for heating and cooking.

He says measures to mitigate this include “ensuring our homes are energy efficient by investing in double glazing, reducing draught areas, installing insulation or smart meters.”