The Renewable Energy and Clean Technology Sector
Renewables and clean technologies such as composting, electric vehicles and energy storage are a significant part of the UK economy and a cornerstone of the modern energy system.
Economic Value
The renewables and clean tech sector employs around 140,000 people, with many jobs outside of the south east (REA, 2024)
According to the CBI, the wider green sector employs almost 1 million people across the UK involved in the green economy transition (CBI, 2025)
Renewables such as wind have been proven in academic research from UCL to have saved UK energy bill payers £104 billion since 2010 due to displacing more expensive, volatile fossil fuels (UCL, 2025)
Energy and Circular Economy Benefits
Renewables provide over half of all the UK’s electricity – 50.4%, as of 2024. (Source: DESNZ Energy Trends, 2025)
Renewables as a whole provide almost 10% of the entire energy demand of the country (across power, hat and transport) (DESNZ Energy Trends, 2025)
Renewables have completely replaced polluting coal in the system – with no coal used to generate power since the end of 2024 (DESNZ Energy Trends, 2025)
The industry created around 2 million tonnes of quality composts, from around 4 million tonnes of waste, avoiding this going to landfill (REA, 2024)
Almost 5 million tonnes of quality biofertiliser produced in 2023 – replacing fossil fuel fertilisers (REA, 2024)
Over 1 in 5 new cars sold are now electric vehicles (22.1% as of September 2025), and when taken with hybrid (which use both batteries and a petrol or diesel engine) car sales, over half of new cars sold are electric or hybrid models (SMMT, 2025)
There are now over a million EV cars on the roads (SMMT, 2025)
Th renewable content of petrol at the pump has doubled since 2021, at 10%, up from 5% before that date (DfT, 2025)
In Europe, over a quarter of heat used is supplied from renewables – mostly bioenergy and heat pumps, with countries like Sweden showing what is possible, at over 65% renewable hating supplies (IEA, 2025)
Th UK has further to go to decarbonise heating supplies but 2% of UK households rely on renewables for either all or part of their heating, and heat pump installs have increased 45% from 2024 to 2025, reaching a record level. Biomass still provides almost half of domestic renewable heating supplies (DESNZ, Ofgem, 2025)
Public Support
80% of the UK public support the use of renewables to provide energy, according to Government statistics, with only 4% against (DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker, summer 2025)
Overall 79% of the country are concerned about climate change, and 91% of people are aware of Net Zero. More people expect a positive impact from the energy transition in the longer term than a negative one, showing the public value action on renewables (DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker, summer 2025)