UK Carbon Intensity API – Real-time UK Emissions Data

Overview

The UK Carbon Intensity API offers access to real-time and forecasted data regarding the carbon intensity of electricity generation within Great Britain. This service, established in 2016, is designed for developers, researchers, and organizations seeking to monitor and respond to the environmental impact of energy consumption. The API provides data that reflects the carbon dioxide emissions per unit of electricity consumed, enabling users to understand the current and predicted environmental footprint of the UK's power grid.

The primary use cases for the UK Carbon Intensity API include optimizing energy consumption patterns to align with periods of lower carbon intensity, facilitating the development of applications that promote green energy usage, and supporting academic research on energy systems and emissions. By providing both current and future carbon intensity figures, the API allows for proactive decision-making. For instance, energy-intensive tasks can be scheduled during times when the grid's carbon intensity is lower, potentially driven by a higher proportion of renewable energy sources.

The API is best suited for scenarios requiring granular insights into the UK's energy mix and its associated emissions. Developers can integrate this data into smart home systems, industrial energy management platforms, or public information dashboards. Researchers can utilize the historical and real-time data for trend analysis, policy evaluation, and modeling future energy scenarios. The API's straightforward access, without requiring authentication, lowers the barrier to entry for integrating environmental data into various projects. This approach aligns with broader efforts to increase transparency in energy markets and support decarbonization initiatives, as detailed in discussions around sustainable energy data by organizations like the W3C's Sustainable Web Design Community Group.

The data covers various regions across Great Britain, offering localized insights that can be crucial for regional energy planning and localized environmental impact assessments. The core products include real-time carbon intensity data, which reflects current conditions, and forecasted carbon intensity data, which provides predictions for upcoming periods. This dual offering supports both immediate operational adjustments and strategic planning. The service is entirely free to use, making it an accessible resource for a wide range of applications focused on sustainability and energy efficiency.

Key features

• Real-time Carbon Intensity Data: Provides up-to-the-minute information on the carbon intensity of electricity generation in Great Britain, indicating the current emissions per unit of electricity.
• Forecasted Carbon Intensity Data: Offers predictions for future carbon intensity, allowing users to anticipate periods of lower or higher carbon emissions from the grid.
• Regional Data Availability: Supplies carbon intensity data broken down by specific regions within Great Britain, enabling localized analysis and optimization.
• Fuel Mix Breakdown: Details the proportion of different energy sources (e.g., wind, solar, nuclear, gas) contributing to electricity generation at any given time, providing context for carbon intensity figures.
• Free and Open Access: All API data is available without charge and does not require authentication, simplifying integration for developers and researchers.
• Historical Data Access: Supports retrieval of past carbon intensity data, useful for trend analysis, research, and compliance reporting.

Pricing

As of May 28, 2026, the UK Carbon Intensity API is free to use for all data access.

For more details on the API's usage and terms, refer to the UK Carbon Intensity API documentation.

Common integrations

• Energy Management Systems: Integrate carbon intensity data to optimize energy consumption schedules in buildings or industrial facilities, aligning high-demand activities with periods of lower carbon emissions.
• Smart Home Devices: Develop applications that automate household appliance usage based on the carbon intensity of the grid, promoting greener energy habits.
• Renewable Energy Dashboards: Incorporate real-time carbon data to provide a comprehensive view of renewable energy generation's impact on grid emissions.
• Academic Research Tools: Utilize the API for data collection in studies related to energy systems, climate change, and environmental policy analysis.
• Public Information Displays: Create public-facing displays or websites that show the current carbon intensity of the UK grid, raising awareness about energy consumption impacts.

Alternatives

• electricityMap: Provides real-time data on the carbon intensity of electricity across various countries globally, showing the origin of electricity and its CO2 emissions.
• Tomorrow.io: Offers weather and climate intelligence, including energy demand forecasting and environmental impact data, though typically broader than just carbon intensity.
• WattTime: Focuses on providing marginal emissions data to help users shift electricity use to cleaner times, primarily in North America but expanding.

Getting started

To begin using the UK Carbon Intensity API, no authentication is required. You can directly make HTTP GET requests to the API endpoints to retrieve data. The API provides endpoints for current, forecasted, and historical carbon intensity data. Below is a Python example demonstrating how to fetch the current carbon intensity for Great Britain.

import requests

# Define the API endpoint for current carbon intensity in Great Britain
api_url = "https://api.carbonintensity.org.uk/intensity"

try:
    # Make the GET request to the API
    response = requests.get(api_url)
    response.raise_for_status()  # Raise an HTTPError for bad responses (4xx or 5xx)

    # Parse the JSON response
    data = response.json()

    # Extract and print relevant information
    if data and "data" in data and len(data["data"]) > 0:
        current_intensity_data = data["data"][0]
        intensity_value = current_intensity_data["intensity"]["actual"]
        forecast_value = current_intensity_data["intensity"]["forecast"]
        index = current_intensity_data["intensity"]["index"]

        print(f"Current Carbon Intensity (Actual): {intensity_value} gCO2/kWh")
        print(f"Current Carbon Intensity (Forecast): {forecast_value} gCO2/kWh")
        print(f"Intensity Index: {index}")
        print("--- Full Data ---")
        print(current_intensity_data)
    else:
        print("No carbon intensity data available.")

except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as http_err:
    print(f"HTTP error occurred: {http_err}")
except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError as conn_err:
    print(f"Connection error occurred: {conn_err}")
except requests.exceptions.Timeout as timeout_err:
    print(f"Timeout error occurred: {timeout_err}")
except requests.exceptions.RequestException as req_err:
    print(f"An unexpected error occurred: {req_err}")
except ValueError:
    print("Failed to decode JSON from response.")

This Python script uses the requests library to query the /intensity endpoint, which provides current and forecasted carbon intensity data for the entire Great Britain region. The output includes the actual and forecasted carbon intensity values in grams of CO2 per kilowatt-hour (gCO2/kWh), along with an 'index' indicating the relative carbon intensity (e.g., 'low', 'moderate', 'high').

For more detailed information on available endpoints, query parameters, and data formats, consult the official UK Carbon Intensity Data API documentation.