Ember

Ember is a London-based, independent, not-for-profit energy think tank that uses data to accelerate the shift to clean electricity. It gathers, curates and analyses data on the global power sector and its impact on the climate, publishes its research and datasets as openly as possible, and uses data-driven insight to shift policy conversation and empower other advocates. Although its staff now work in several regions, its headquarters and institutional home are in London, England.

In the landscape of UK agencies and information services, Ember functions as a specialist data agency for the electricity transition. News organisations, governments and campaigners around the world cite its figures on coal, gas, wind and solar generation, often within hours of release. Its annual reviews of European and global electricity have become reference points in energy reporting, giving the organisation an influence well beyond its size.

Origins as Sandbag and the 2020 Rebrand

Ember was founded in 2008 as Sandbag, an organisation focused on analysing, monitoring and reforming the European Union carbon market. Carbon trading was then a central instrument of European climate policy, and Sandbag's work scrutinised whether the emissions trading system was delivering real reductions, publishing analysis aimed at policymakers and market participants. That origin matters: the organisation began inside the technical detail of climate policy, not as a general campaigning group.

In 2020 it rebranded as Ember and broadened its mission from carbon markets to the global electricity system. The change reflected a strategic judgement that the decisive climate contest of the following decades would be the replacement of fossil fuels in power generation, and that open, trustworthy electricity data were scarce. Under the new name, the team of electricity analysts grew, and its geographic focus expanded from Europe to the world.

Independence and Not-for-Profit Status

Ember describes itself as an independent, not-for-profit think tank. It is not owned by an energy company, a media group or a government, and its published material states its aim plainly: to shift the world to clean electricity using data. Independence is central to its credibility with the journalists and officials who reuse its figures; a data provider suspected of serving a commercial interest in a particular technology would struggle to become a common reference.

Its working model follows from that status. Research is published openly on its website, datasets are downloadable, and methods are documented so others can check and reuse the analysis. This open approach contrasts with subscription research firms elsewhere in this directory, such as commercial forecasters whose data sit behind paywalls. Ember's bet is that impact comes from maximum reuse — by newsrooms, ministries, researchers and campaigners — rather than from selling exclusivity.

Editorial Focus: Electricity and the Power Sector

Ember's subject is electricity: how it is generated, what fuels and technologies supply it, how emissions from power generation change, and what policies accelerate or retard the transition to clean sources. Its analysts track coal, gas, nuclear, hydro, wind, solar, bioenergy and storage across national power systems, and examine topics such as methane emissions associated with coal mining, the economics of renewables, grid development and the pace at which countries are adding clean capacity.

That single-sector depth is deliberate. Electricity is both a major source of emissions in its own right and the platform on which transport, heating and parts of industry are expected to decarbonise. By concentrating its expertise there, a relatively small organisation can maintain data of a quality that generalist outlets cannot match, and can answer detailed questions — about a country's generation mix in a particular year, for example — quickly and authoritatively when news breaks.

Flagship Publications and Data Products

Ember's best-known outputs are its periodic reviews of electricity systems. Its European Electricity Review and Global Electricity Review assemble generation and emissions data across many countries into a consistent picture, identifying milestones such as the year solar generation overtook coal in the European Union's electricity mix — a finding it reported for 2024, when solar provided about 11 per cent of EU electricity while coal fell below 10 per cent for the first time in its series, which extends back to 2011.

Alongside the reviews, Ember publishes country and topic briefings, interactive tools and open datasets. Its Europe electricity interconnection material, for example, documents how cross-border transmission capacity might develop and explains the methodology behind the visualisations. Data products are released with documentation of sources and methods, dated and versioned, so that researchers can cite them precisely. This documentation habit — publishing the workings, not only the headline — is a hallmark of the organisation's scientific style.

How Its Data Reach the World

Ember's distribution is syndication by reuse. International wire services and newspapers routinely report its releases: Reuters coverage of its European review, for instance, carried its solar and coal findings to news outlets globally, which republished them to local audiences. Because the underlying data are open, a chart produced in London can appear, credited, in a ministry briefing in Asia or a television package in Europe on the same day.

Analysts amplify that reach by acting as expert commentators. Ember staff are quoted explaining what the numbers mean — why wind generation can plateau in a year of poor wind conditions despite new capacity, for example, or what permitting reform would be needed to hit a 2030 target. This combination of dataset and spokesperson makes the organisation useful to newsrooms on deadline, and it is why its name appears so frequently in energy coverage relative to its headcount.

Team and Geographic Scope

Ember's team of electricity analysts and support staff are based around the world, including in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Turkey, India, China and Indonesia, and company listings have put its size in the range of 51 to 200 employees in recent years, with a rapidly growing professional following online. Distributed staffing is practical: analysing the power systems of major Asian economies, where much of the world's electricity growth and coal use is concentrated, requires regional knowledge and language skills that a London-only team would lack.

Coverage, however, is global. Its global review assembles data for countries accounting for the overwhelming majority of world electricity demand and emissions, and its commentary addresses the worldwide contest between clean generation growth and rising demand — including the milestone, reported from its data, when clean power met all global electricity demand growth in a post-pandemic year. London remains the headquarters and the place where its major reports are launched to international media.

Policy Influence and Advocacy Use

Ember states that it uses data-driven insights to shift conversation towards high-impact policies and to empower other advocates. Its research therefore has an intended policy audience: officials deciding on coal phase-out dates, renewable targets, grid investment and market design. By showing, country by country, that clean electricity growth is achievable and measurable, its publications supply an evidence base that reformers can cite against claims that transition is impractical.

At the same time, its analysts place limits in view. Reports note where progress is too slow, where fossil generation remains entrenched and where weather or permitting can stall momentum. That willingness to publish inconvenient detail within an overall transition narrative has helped preserve trust among journalists, who need sources that acknowledge complexity. Influence built on credible data tends to last longer than influence built on slogans.

Digital Presence

Everything Ember produces is digital-first. Its website hosts reports, articles, charts and downloadable data, designed for reuse: charts can be embedded, datasets can be downloaded, and country pages summarise generation and emissions trends for quick reference. Its presence on professional and social platforms distributes releases and commentary to the energy community, and its analysts maintain visible expert profiles.

Open licensing and accessible design are part of the product. A student, a local campaigner and a finance ministry analyst can all work from the same figures, which is precisely the democratising effect the organisation seeks. For a directory of information services, Ember demonstrates the open-data model: give the evidence away, and let scale of reuse — rather than subscription revenue — measure success.

Significance Among UK Climate Data Organisations

Ember's rise illustrates how a small British non-profit can become a global data authority within a few years by choosing a vital niche and publishing rigorously. Founded as a specialist scrutineer of Europe's carbon market, it reinvented itself in 2020 just as electricity transition data became central to climate politics, and its reviews now help set the factual agenda for each year's energy debate.

Together with neighbouring London organisations working on finance, policy and modelling, Ember forms part of a cluster of UK climate intelligence that punches above its weight internationally. Its particular contribution is the open electricity dataset and the analysis built on it: a public good, produced in London, that newsrooms and governments worldwide treat as a first port of call when they need to know how the world's power systems are changing.